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General Lee. 



POPULAR LIFE 



Oin 



Gen. Robert Edward Lee 



By Emily V. Mason. 



Dedicated by Permission to Mrs. Lee. 



Illttstratjeb foit^ It dBriginal g^sxgns bg professor l^olck. 



'One such example is worth more to earth 
Than the stained triumphs of ten thousand Csesars.' 



Second Revised EDiTio:jf. 



BALTIMORE: 
Published by John Murphy <fe Co. 

Publishers, Booksellers, Printers and Stationers, 
182 BALTiAfORE Street. 

1874. 




1 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, bj' 

JOHN MURPHY & CO.. 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



By cschan 



^ru 



DEC 6 1940 



Dedicatory Preface. 

My Dear Mrs. ^jEe: 

With your permission I dedicate to you this life of 
our beloved hero. It may seem daring in one so unprac- 
tised to attempt a theme so lofty. But I have hoped that 
the love and admiration I felt for General Lee would 
inspire me with ability to present him to others as I 
knew him. 

Other writers will exhibit his public life, his genius 
and magnanimity. • I wish to show more of his domestic 
character and private virtues ; his unwearied industry, 
his self-control and self-denial, his unselfish temper ; his 
generous kindness, his gentle manners ; his modesty and 
moderation in success; his patience in difficulties and 
disappointments, and his noble fortitude in defeat and 
disaster. 

That you, who are most jealous of his fame, should 
honor me with your approval, leads me to hope for the 
like indulgence from the American people to whose 
history he belongs. 

EMILY V. MASOK 

Baltimore, June, 1871. 



List ofIllusteations. 



PAGE 



General Lee. (Frontispiece.) 

KicHARD Lee, Founder of the Family . . . .14 
Thomas Lee, First American Governor ... 15 
KicHARD Henry Lee, Mover or the Declaration of 

Independence 17 

General Henry Lee, (Light Horse Harry,) Father 

OF E. E. Lee 19 

Stratford, Birthplace of K. E. Lee, (full page) . . 21 
Lieutenant and Mrs. Lee at the Time of their Mar- 
riage 27 

Arlington House 28 

Captain Lee Wounded at Chapultepec ... 51 
General Lee Eeceived by the Virginia Convention . 78 
Meeting between Lee and Jackson . . . .106 

Battle of Chancellorsville 178 

Lee to the Eear, an Incident at the Battle of 

Spottsylvania C. H 244 

In the Trenches at Petersburg, (full page) . . . 278 
General Lee Entering Eichmond after the Surren- 
der 317 

General Lee and Traveller 339 

1* V 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

PAOB 

Genealogy — Family Seat of the Lees in Virginia . , .13 

CHAPTER II. 

Birth — Childhood —His Devotion to his Mother — His thoughtful 
Character — School Life in Alexandria — West Point — Enters 
the Engineer Corps — Marriage — Arlington — The White House 

— Promotion — Improvement of the Navigation of the Missis- 
sippi — Letters to his Family 21 

CHAPTER III. 

The Mexican War — Letter to his Sons — Vera Cruz — Cerro 
Gordo — Encomiums of General Scott — Passage of the Pedrigal 

— Wounded at Chapultepec — Promotion 36 

CHAPTER IV. 

Close of the War — Stationed near Baltimore — Placed in Charge 
of the Military Academy at West Point — Transferred to the 
Cavalry — Ordered to Texas — Indian Warfare — Letters to his 
Family — Hardships of Frontier Service — Return to Arlington 52 

CHAPTER V. 

The John Brown War — Return to Texas — Letters to his Family 

— The gathering Storm — Summoned to Washington — Secession 
of Virginia — The Sad Alternative — Resigns his Commission 

— Farewell to General Scott — To his Sister — His Reticence . 65 

CHAPTER VI. 

Lee in Richmond — Appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Vir- 
ginia Forces — Presented to the Virginia Convention — Address 
of President Janney — Organization of an Army — Appointed 
General in the Confederate Service — Ordered to Western 
Virginia 78 

CHAPTER VII. 

Gloucester Point — Great Bethel — Manassas — Letter to his 
Family — Campaign in Western Virginia — Causes of Failure 

— His Magnanimous Silence — Services on the Sea-Coast — 
Letters to his Daughters — Assigned to Duty at the Seat of 
Government 84 



VIU CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

PAQB 

Reorganization of the Army — The Peninsula Campaign — Battle 
of Seven Pines — Johnston Wounded — General Lee takes Com- 
mand — Jackson's Valley Campaign — " Stuart's Ride " — Gen- 
eral Orders — Jackson's Mysterious March — Mechanicsville . 95 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Eve of Battle — Meeting of Lee and Jackson — Cold Harbor 
— The Charge of the Texas Brigade — General Lee's Despatch . 104 

CHAPTER X. 

McClellan's Retreat — Savage Station — Frazier Farm — Malvern 
Hill — General Order — Results of the Seven Days' Fighting — 
McClellan's Letter from Harrison's Landing . . . .111 

CHAPTER XI. 

McClellan's Removal — Pope in Command — His Cruel Orders — 
General Lee's Remonstrance — Pope's New Art of War — Cedar 
Run — General Lee's Advance — General Orders — Second 
Battle of Manassas 122 

CHAPTER XII. 

Crossing the Potomac — Address to the People of Maryland — 
Boonsboro' Gap — Harper's Ferry 133 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Battle of Sharpsburg — Recrossing the Potomac — General 
Lee's Address to his Army — Review of the Campaign — Per- 
sonal Incidents 142 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Encampment around Winchester — Stuart's Raid into Pennsyl- 
vania — The Federal Army in Motion — Removal of McClellan 

— Burnside in Command — Camp at Fredericksburg — Letter 
from General Lee to his Daughter — The Bombardment of 
Fredericksburg — The Battle — General Lee's Despatch . .152 

CHAPTER XV. 

The Federal Army recrosses the Rappahannock — General Lee's 
Address to his Army — Winter in Camp — " The Mud March " 

— Burnside's Resignation — General Hooker in Command . 1G3 



CONTENTS. IX 

CHAPTER XVI. 

PAGE 

Hooker's Campaign — Kelley's Ford — Death of Pelhain — The 
Battle of Chaiicellorsville — Jackson's Flank Movement in 
" The Wilderness " — Jackson Wounded 169 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Stuart in Command of Jackson's Corps — The Battle Resumed — 
"The Wilderness" on Fire — The Victory — General Lee's 
Address to the Army — Death of Jackson announced in Gen- 
eral Orders — Letter from General Lee 177 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Cavalry Fight at Brandy Station — Marching Northward — 
Milroy driven from Winchester — Crossing the Frontier — 
Hooker Resigns — Meade in Command — General Lee's Strict 
Orders for Protection of Private Property — Exemplary Con- 
duct of the Southern Troops 184 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The Army in T^snnsylvania — General Lee embarrassed for want 
of Cavalry — Gettysburg — First Day, Hancock remains in 
possession >f Cemetery Ridge — Second Day, Attempts upon 
the Right and Left — Third Day, Pickett's famous Charge 
upon the Centre, La Garde rccule ! 193 

CHAPTER XX. 

The P/*reat from Gettysburg — The Attack upon the Wagon 
Trains — The Potomac Impassable — General Lee prepares for 
Battle — The River Falls — Back to Virginia . . . .204 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Dar i Days in the Confederacy — Proclamation by the President — 
General Lee's Order to the Army — Longstreet's Corps sent 
to Tennessee — General Lee Advances upon Meade — Stuart's 
Narrow Escape — Engagement at Bristoe Station — Back to the 
Rapidan — Winter Quarters 213 

CHAPTER XXII, 

Privations of the Army — Incidents at Head-Quarters — General 
Lee's Letter to the City Council of Richmond — An Address to 
the Army — The Dahlgren Raid 223 



X C O N T EN T S . 

CHAPTER XX J II. 

PAQE 

Grant takes Command of the Army of the Potomac — His Advance 

— The Battle of the Wilderness — Longstreet Wounded . .231 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

" By the Left Flank " — The Battles at Spottsylvania Court-House 

— Sheridan's Raid — Death of Stuart 240 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Skirmishing on the North Anna — On to the Chickahominy — 
The Second Battle of Cold Harbor 248 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Operations in the Valley — Hunter's Raid — His Cruelty — 
Butler's Advance from Bermuda Hundreds — Battle of Drewry's 
Bluff— Grant Crosses the James — Attempt to take Petersburg 
by Surprise — Commencement of the Siege .... 254 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

The Battle of the Crater — Terrible Carnage — Early's Advance 
into Maryland — Battle of Monoeacy — In Sight of the Capitol 

— Early Retires to the Opequon 261 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Battle of Chafin's Farm — Struggles for the Weldon Road — 
Ream's Station — The South Side Road — Hatcher's Run — 
General Lee's Despatch — Reverses in the Valley — Winchester 
— Fisher's Hill — Cedar Creek — General Lee's Letter to Gen- 
eral Early 267 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Winter in the Trenches — Sufferings of the Troops — "Xes 3Iise- 
rables " — Disasters in the South — Depression of the People — 
General Lee Appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate 
Armies — Failure of Peace Negotiations — Proposed Enlistment 
of Negroes 277 

CHAPTER XXX. 

General Lee's Order Assuming Command of the Confederate 
Forces — Fight at Hare's Hill — At Five Forks — Last Days 
at Petersburg — Gallant Defence of Fort Gregg . . . 285 



CONTENTS. XI 

CHAPTEK XXXI. 

PAGK 

Death of General A. P. Hill — Evacuation of Petersburg and 
Richmond — Tlie Army without Ptations — The consequent 
Delay — The Retreat to North Carolina Cut Off — Loss of 
Ewell's Corps — A Council of War 294 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Starvation and Death — The Veterans still March and Fight — 
General Grant Proposes a Surrender — Correspondence between 
the Two Commanders — Preparations for Another Battle — The 
White Flag — The Surrender — Interview between General 
Lee and General Grant 302 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

The Last Hours of the Army of Northern Virginia — The Night 
of Peace — General Lee's Farewell to his Army — His Recep- 
tion in Richmond — His Retired Life — Testimonials of Affec- 
tion and Esteem — His Noble Bearing in Adversity . . . 313 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

He is offered the Presidency of Washington College — Letter of 
Acceptance — Installation — Condition of the College — His 
Earnest Devotion to his New Duties — Influence of his Char- 
acter and Example — His Valuable Services to the College . 324 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

Summoned before the Reconstruction Committee — His Testimony 
— Letters to a Friend — Incidents Illustrating his Character 
— His Last Illness — Death — Funeral Rites 336 

APPENDIX 351 

Washington and Lee University — Funeral Ceremonies — Me- 
morial Meetings — In Baltimore, Md. — Louisville, Ky. — 
New Orleans, La. — Atlanta, Ga. — Augusta, Ga. — Colum- 
bia, S. C. — Baltimore, Md. — Richmond, Va. — Other Tri- 
butes of Respect. 



A POPULAR LIFE OF 

GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE, 



CHAPTER L 

Genealogy — Family Seat of the Lees in Virginia. 

TfcLE Lees of Virginia come from one of the an- 
cient families of England. The fomider of the 
family came in with "William the Conqueror, and 
acquired estates in Essex. 

Lionel Lee wont with Richard Coeur de Lion to 
the third Crusade, in 1192, and was created Earl of 
Litchfield at the siege of Acre. His armor is in the 
horse armory of the Tower of London. 

Two of the family were Knights-Companions of 
the Garter. Their hanners, surmounted by the Lee 
arms, were placed in Saint George's Chapel, at 
Windsor Castle. 

Sir Henry Lee was Knight of the Garter in 
Queen Ehzabeth's time. The Earldom of Litch- 
field passed to the fifth baronet of his line, in 1674. 

Richard Lee, a younger son of the house of Litch- 



14 



A POPULAR LIFE OF 



field,* came over to Yirginia, in the reign of Charlea 
the First, as Secretary to the Colony, and membei 

of the Kinsf's Privy 




King's 
Council. He is de- 
scribed as a man of 
"good stature, comely 
visage, enterprising ge- 
nius, sound head, and 
generous nature," — 
traits of person and 
character marked in his 
descendants. He was a 
staunch Loyalist in the 
Civil "War, and, mth 
the Governor, Sir Wil- 
liam Berkley, held the 
Colony to its allegiance 
until after the fall of the king. Cromwell sent naval 
and land forces to compel the submission of the 
Colony. The Colonial authorities made a treaty 
with the forces of the Commonwealth, in which 
Virginia is styled an " Independent Dominion." 
This was the origin of her name, " Old Dominion." 
The king showed his gratitude for this loyalty 
by ordering the arms of Yirginia to be added to 
those of England, France, Ireland, and Scotland, 
with the motto, '■''En dat Virginia quintam,'' (Behold, 

■^He was the seventh son of Sir Robert Lee of Hulcott, and 
younger brother of Sir Henry Lee of Quarrendon and Ditchley. 



Richard Lee. 



GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE, 



15 



Virginia makes the fifth,) which was changed, after 
the union of England and Scotland, to "^/^ dat Vir- 
ginia quartam,J^ * 



Thomas Lee, grand- 
son of Richard, was 
President of the Coun- 
cil and Governor of the 
Colony — the first na- 
tive American in that 
office, under the British 
Crown. He was so es- 
teemed in England, 
that when his country- 
seat, Stratford, f in 
Westmoreland, was 
burned, it was rebuilt 

Thomas Lee. 

* Mr. Edward C. Meade, of Albemarle County, Virginia, tells us 
of a medal which was ploughed up on his farm, of the following 
description: — On one side a head, with the words, "Georgius IIL, 
Rex;" on the other, a shield surmounted by a crown, on which are 
quartered the arms of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Virginia ; 
the whole encircled with the word, " Virginia, ]773." 

A similar coin is in possession of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society. 

f Mr. Lossing, in his " Field-Book of the Revolution," says of 
this fine mansion: " There is no structure in our country to com- 
pare with it. The walls of the first story are two and a half feet 
thick, and the second story two feet — composed of brick imported 
from England. It originally contained about one hundred rooms. 
Besides the main building, there are four offices, one at each 
corner, containing fifteen rooms. The stables are capable ot 
accommodating one hundred horses. Its cost was about eighty 
thousand dollars." 




16 A POPULAR LIFE OF 

by the Government and the merchants of London. 
Queen Caroline contributed to it from her privy 
purse, in a complimentary letter to him under her 
own hand. He is known in Colonial History as 
" President Lee." 

The foUo^^ing is an extract from the Will of this 
remarkable man : 

" Li the name of God, Amen. I, Thomas Lee, in 
the County of Westmoreland in Virginia, Esq., 
President and Commander-in-chief of the said Col- 
ony, being (thanks be to God) of sound and dispos- 
ing sense and memory, do make and declare this 
my last will and testament, all written with my own 
hand this twenty-second day of February, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and 
forty-nine (1749). First my soul I do resign, with 
all humility and sincerity, to the Lord God of the 
Heavens from whom my sinful flesh received it, 
in steadfast hope of mercy and forgiveness of all 
my sins and offences by the sufferings and death of 
His beloved Son Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Re- 
deemer of all men. Amen. Amen. Amen. 

" As to my body, I desire, if it pleases God that I 
die anywhere in Virginia, it may be buried between 
my late dearest wife and my honored mother, and 
that the bricks on the side next my wife may be 
moved, and my coffin placed as near hers as is pos- 
sible, without removing or disturbing the remains 
of my mother. Having observed much indecent 
mirth at funerals, I desire that last piece of human 
vanity be omitted, and that, attended only by some 



GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 



17 



of those friends and relations that are near, my 
body may be silently interred with only the Church 
ceremony, and that a funeral sermon, with instruc- 
tion to the living, be preached at the Parish Church, 
near Stratford, on any other day." Etc., etc. 



Among the sons of Thomas Lee ;;vho acted a lead- 
ing part in public af- 
fairs, were the orator 
Richard Henry Lee, of 
Chantilly, a leader of 
the Revolutionary Con- 
gress, and the mover 
of the Resolution which 
declared the indepen- 
dence of the Colonies ; 
Francis Lightfoot Lee, 
a member of the Con- 
gress, and a signer of 
the Declaration ; and 
Arthur Lee, who was 

minister of the Colonies in France and other coun- 
tries of Europe during the Revolution. 




E I c n A T, p II E N R T Lee. 



General Henry Lee, father of Robert E. Lee, was 
grandson of a brother of President Lee. He served 
with great distinction in the war of the Revolu- 
tion, and is known in history as " Light Horse 
Harry." Though young — not of age when he en- 
tered the service — his military genius was at once 



18 A POPULAR LIFE OF 

conspicuous, and drew to him the pecuHar con- 
fidence of General Washington.* 

When the war ended, he retired to Stratford, in 
Westmoreland County, which estate came into his 
possession through his first marriage mth his 
cousin Matilda, daughter of Philip Ludwell Lee. 
General Eohert Lee, in his Life of his father pre- 
fixed to the third edition of the " Southern Cam- 
paigns," has given us a description of this fine old 
mansion. 

" The approach to the house is on the south, 
along the side of a lawn several hundred acres in 
extent, adorned with cedars, oaks, and forest pop- 
lars. On ascending a hill, not far from the gate, 
the traveller comes in full view of the mansion, 
when the road turns to the right and leads straight 
to a grove of sugar-maples, around which it sweeps 
to the house. The edifice is built in the form of an 
H, and of bricks brought from England. The cross 
furnishes a saloon of thirty feet cube, and in the 
centre of each wing rises a cluster of chimneys, 
which form the columns of two pavilions connected 
by a balustrade. The owner, who before the Revo- 
lution was a member of the King's Council, lived 
here in great state, and kept a band of musicians, 
to wdiose airs his daughters Matilda and Flora, with 
their companions, danced in the saloon, or prom- 
enaded on the house-top." 

*His mother (Miss Grymes) had been the object of General 
Washington's youthful admiration. He wrote sentimental verses 
to her, and spoke af her as his '• lowland beauty." He adds, "I 
was very unhappy, but never told my admiration." 



GENERAL llOBERT E. LEE 



19 



General Henry Lee won equal distinction in civil 
and in military life. He rose to the first rank in 
his country in politics and letters. His " Memoirs 
of the War in the Southern Department " is a his- 
tory worthy the great events narrated in it. His 
eloquence in Congress caused his selection hy hoth 
houses to deliver the funeral oration of General 
AVashington. The resolutions which he drew up 
on this occasion, and which were presented hy 
Judge Marshall in General Lee's temporary ab- 
sence, contained those celebrated words, '' Fprst in 
loar, first in j^eace, and first in the hearts of his country- 
menJ^ 



General Henry Lee 
was three times chosen 
Governor of Virginia. 
He represented West- 
moreland in the Vir- 
ginia Convention which 
ratified the Federal 
Constitution after 



severe struggle, 



a 
in 
Henry 



great 




which Patrick 

exerted all his 

powers to defeat it, 

and predi cted ^\\i\\ g e ^ ^ r a l ii e n k y l e e. 

wonderful sagacity the future ascendency of the 

Union over the liberties of the States. General 

Lee and Mr. Madison w^ere its leadins: advocates. 



20 APOPULARLIFEOF 

So liiglily were General Henry Lee's services 
upon another occasion esteemed by his countrymen, 
that a vote of thanks was passed by Congress, and 
a medal presented to him, on which his deeds were 
designated in the following beautiful words : ^'Not- 
withstanding rivers and intrencJmients, he, with a small 
band, conquered the foe by warlike skill and prowess, and 
jir7nly bound by his humanity those who had been con- 
quered by his arms;'^' — words which, as one of his 
biographers has remarked, may be applied with 
equal truth to his son. General Henry Lee was 
twice married. First, to Matilda, daughter of Philip 
Ludwell Lee, of Stratford, who left him a daughter, 
Lucy, and a son, Henry, a learned scholar and elo- 
quent writer in politics and history. His second 
wife was Anne Carter, daughter of Charles Carter, 
of Shirley, on the James River; of the distinguished 
and wealthy family descended from Robert Carter, 
known in Colonial History as " King Carter," from 
his immense estates. 

The children of the second marriage were Charles 
Carter Lee, of Powhattan, Virginia; Sidney Smith 
Lee, a commander in the U. S. 'Nslyj in 1860 — 
afterwards of the C. S. ^avy ; General Robert Ed- 
ward Lee ; and two daughters, Anne and Mildred 
Lee. 



tlli'li'llllllllllillllllllil 




GENERAL ROBERT E.LEE. 21 



ClIAPTEE 11. 

Birth — Childliood — Mis Devotion to his Mother — His thoughtful 
Character — School-Life iu Alexandria — West Point — Enters 
the Engineer Corps — Marriage — Arlington — The White House 
— Promotion — Improvement of the Navigation of the Missis- 
sippi — Letters to his Family. 

ROBERT EDWARD LEE first saw the light at 
Stratford, Westmoreland County, Virginia, 
on the 19th of January, 1807, in the same room in 
which two of the signers of the Declaration of 
Independence were born — Richard Henry Lee, 
and Francis Lightfoot Lee. 

He was the fourth child of General Henry Lee, 
and was named for his maternal uncles, Robert and 
Edward Carter, of Shirley. 

When he was but four years of age, his father 
removed to Alexandria, the better to educate his 
children ; and there are many persons yet living 
in that old town who remember him at that early 
age. From these sources we are assured that his 
childhood was as remarkable as his manhood for 
the modesty and thoughtfulness of his character, 
and for the performance of every duty which de- 
volved upon him. 

The family lived on Cameron Street, near the 
old Christ Church — then on Orinoco Street — and 
afterwards in the house known as the Parsonage, 



22 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1807. 

At this period General Henry Lee was absent in 
the West Indies in pursuit of health; and in one 
of the admirable letters written to his son Carter, 
hen a student at Cambridge, he says : '' Robert, 
who was always good, will be conlirmed in his 
happy turn of mind by his ever watchful and affec- 
tionate mother." 

Wlien he was eleven years of age, his father died. 

From one of his family, who knew him best, we 
are told, that from his excellent mother he learned, 
at this early age, to " practise self-denial and self- 
control, as well as the strictest economy in all finan- 
cial concerns," virtues which he retained through- 
out his life. 

This good mother was a great invalid ; one of 
his sisters was delicate, and many years absent in 
Philadelphia under the care of physicians. The 
oldest son Carter was at Cambridge, Sidney Smith 
in the I*Tavy, and the other sister too young to be 
of much aid in household matters ; so Robert was 
the housekeeper, carried " the keys," attended to 
the marketing, managed all the out-door business, 
and took care of his mother's horses. 

At the hour when the other school-boys went to 
play, he hurried home to order his mother's drive, 
and would then be seen carrying her in his arms to 
the carriage, and arranging her cushions with the 
gentleness of an experienced nurse. One of his 
relatives still lives who was often the companion of 



1818.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 23 

these drives. She tells us of the exertions he would 
make on these occasions to entertain and amuse his 
mother; assuring her, with the gravity of an old 
man, that, unless she was cheerful, the drive would 
not henefit her. When she complained of cold or 
" draughts," he would pull from his pocket a great 
jack-knife and newspaper, and make her laugh 
with his efforts to improvise curtains, and shut out 
the intrusive wind which whistled through the 
crevices of the old family -coach. 

When he left her to go to West Point, his mother 
was heard to say, " How can I live without Robert? 
he is both son and daughter to me." 

Years after, when he came home from West 
Point, he found one of the chief actors in his child- 
hood's drama — his mother's old coachman "I^at" 
— ill, and threatened with consumption. He im- 
mediately took him to the milder climate of Georgia, 
nursed him with the tenderness of a son, and secured 
him the best medical advice. But the spring-time 
saw the faithful old servant laid in the grave by the 
hands of his kind young master. 

General Lee used to say that he was very fond of 
hunting when a boy — that he sometimes followed 
the hounds on foot all day. This will account for 
his well-developed form, and for that wonderful 
strength which was never known to fail him in all 
the fatigues and privations of his after-life. 

His first teacher was an Irish gentleman, Mr 



24 APOPULARLIFEOF [1825. 

"William B. Leary, who came to Lexington to visit 
him after the termination of the war; and when 
General Lee was returning from Georgia about two 
years ago, this gentleman came a great distance to 
meet him, and they had another most pleasant meet- 
ing. Only last summer, when General Lee was in 
Alexandria, one of the old nei2:hbors found him 
gazing wistfully over the palings of the garden in 
which he used to play. " I am looking," said he, 
" to see if the old snowball-trees are still here. I 
should have been sorry to miss them." 

One of his friends gives a remarkable incident to 
show the influence which, even at this early day, his 
simple dignity and high sense of right exercised 
upon all who came in contact with him, the old as 
well as the young. Being invited, during a vaca- 
tion, to visit a friend of his family who lived in the 
gay, rollicking style then but too common in old 
Virginia, he found in his host one of the grand 
old gentlemen of that day, with every fascination 
of mind and manner, who, though not of dissipated 
habits, led a life which the sterner sense of the boy 
could not approve. The old man shrunk before the 
unspoken rebuke of the youthful hero. Coming 
to his bedside the night before his departure, he 
lamented the idle and useless life into which he had 
fallen, excusing himself upon the score of loneliness, 
and the sorrow which weighed upon him in the loss 
of those most dear. In the most impressive manner 



1825.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 25 

he besought his young guest to be warned by his 
example ; prayed him to cherish the good habits he 
had ah^eady acquired, and promised to listen to his 
entreaties that he would change his own life, and 
thereby secure more entirely his respect and affec- 
tion. 

When it was decided that he should go to West 
Point, Robert was sent to Mr. Benjamin Hallowell, 
a famous teacher of mathematics in Alexandria, 
whose estimation of his pupil may be seen in the 
following extract from one of his letters : 

" Robert E. Lee entered my school in Alexandria, 
Virginia, in the winter of 1824-5, to study mathe- 
matics preparatory to his going to West Point. He 
was a most exemplary student in every respect. 
He was never behind time at his studies; never 
failed in a single recitation ; was perfectly observant 
of the rules and rearulations of the Institution ; was 
gentlemanly, unobtrusive, and respectful in all his 
deportment to teachers and his fellow-students. 
His specialty W2i^ finishing up. He imparted a finish 
and a neatness, as he proceeded, to everything he 
undertook. One of the branches of mathematics he 
studied with me was Conic Sections, in which some 
of the diagrams are very complicated. He drew the 
diagrams on a slate ; and although he well knew 
that the one he was drawing would have to be 
removed to make room for another, he drew each 
one with as much accuracy and finish, lettering and 
all, as if it was to be engraved and printed. He 
3 



26 A POPULAB LIFE OF [1825. 

carried the same traits he exhibited at my school 
with him to West Point, where I have been told he 
never received a mark of demerit, and graduated 
head of his class. 

" A feeling of mutual kindness and respect con- 
tinued between us to the close of his life. 

" He was a great friend and advocate of education. 

"It was a matter of great regret to me that he 
thought it right to take the course he did in our 
recent national difficulties ; but I never entertained 
the least doubt that he was influenced by what he 
believed to be his duty, and what was entirely in 
harmony with the requirements of a gentleman and 
the dictates of honor." 

In 1825, when he was eighteen years of age, he 
entered the Military Academy at West Point, where 
he remained four years, graduating in 1829. 

From the first, he rose to the head of his class, 
and retained this "standing" until he left the 
Academy. During his whole course he never re- 
ceived a "demerit mark" for any breach or neglect 
of duty. 

By his comrades he was held in the highest 
esteem, and was noted for his studious habits and 
exemplary conduct. He never drank intoxicating 
liquor, never used tobacco, or indulged in any of 
the petty vices to which youth is apt. Indeed, one 
of those who knew him intimately from his boy- 
hood to his grave, declared that he never knew him 



1825.] 



GENEEAI, ROBERT E.LEE. 



27 



'Ho utter an immoral or profone word, and never 
saw him taste a drop of intoxicating drink." 

Upon leaving West Point, Robert E. Lee received 
the appointment of Second Lieutenant in the Corps 
of Engineers, to which branch of the service the 
most distinguished grachiates are assigned. After 
a short furlough he entered upon the duties of his 
profession, and was first ordered to Cockspur 
Island, near Savannah. In 1831, Lieutenant Lee 
married Mary, daughter and heiress of Washing- 
ton Parke Custis, and grand-daughter of the wife 
of General Washington. By this marriage the 
young officer became a frequent resident of Arling- 
ton House. 




Lieutenant and Mrs. Lee, at the time of their Marriage. 



28 



A POPULAR LIFE OF 



[1831. 



This fine mansion stands upon the Virginia 
Heights, opposite Washington City, overlooking 
the Potomac, and was for many years an object of 
attraction to all visitors to Washington on account 
of its historical associations, and the Washington 
relics collected and preserved by the patriotic father 



of Mrs. Lee. Here were to be seen 




Arlington Hocse. 



portraits of General and Mrs. Washington, painted 
at the time of their marriage, which have been so 
constantly^reproduced. The portrait of Mrs. Wash- 
ington's first husband. Colonel Parke Custis, of 



1831.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 29 

many of his progenitors, and several pictures of the 
great Revolutionary battles, painted by Mr. Custis, 
whose delight it was to perpetuate upon canvas the 
features of the great man who had been to him a 
father, and to commemorate the important scenes 
in which he had been an actor. 

Here, also, was the last original portrait of Gen- 
eral Washington, by Sharpless, a distinguished 
English artist who painted in crayons. Many of 
the pictures and much of the old furniture of Mt. 
Vernon was here ; the china presented to Mrs. 
Washington by certain English merchants, upon 
which was her monogram ; that given to General 
Washington by the Society of the Cincinnati ; the 
tea-table at which Mrs. Washington always pre- 
sided ; a book-case made by General Washington's 
own directions ; and the bed upon which he died. 

Arlington House was surrounded by groves of 
stately trees, except in front, where the hill de- 
scended to a lovely valley spreading away to the 
river. The view from the height showed Washing- 
ton, Georgetown, and a long stretch of the Potomac 
in the foreground, with wooded hills and valleys 
making a background of dark foliage. 

This place, so full of historical association, was 
to obtain yet further celebrity as the first camping- 
ground of the " grand army " of the I^orth, upon 
its entry into Virginia sixty years after Washing- 
ton's death. 

3* 



30 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1831. 

The " Wliite House/' on the Pamunkey, the 
seene of the marriage of General Washington with 
the "Widow Custis," came also into Lieutenant 
Lee's family, being bequeathed by the maternal 
grandfather to the '' second son " of this marriage. 

This interesting old place was burned by the 
Federal army in 1862. When forced to leave Ar- 
lington, Mrs. Lee, with her family, had taken 
refuge here; but the White House being found a 
favorable " base " for the Federal army, the follow- 
ing year, they were obliged to seek a place of 
greater safety. Before her departure from this her 
last homestead, Mrs. Lee wrote and affixed to the 
door of the house the following appeal : 

" I^orthern soldiers who profess to reverence 
Washington, forbear to desecrate the home of his 
first married life, the property of his wife, now 
owned by her descendants. 

" A Grand-daughter of Mrs. Washington." 

A I^orthern officer is said to have vsrritten be- 
neath this : 

" A Northern officer has protected your property, 
in sight of the enemy, and at the request of your 
overseer." 

The house, however, was burned, either before 
or during General McClellan's retreat, and " not a 
blade of grass left to mark the culture of more than 
a hundred years." 



1839.] GENEEAL ROBERT E. LEE. 31 

After his marriage, Lieutenant Lee was sent to 
Old Point, Ya., where he remained for three years. 
In 1835 he was appointed Assistant Astronomer for 
marking out the boundary hne between Ohio and 
Michigan. The following year he was made First 
Lieutenant, and in July, 1838, Captain of Engineers. 

In 1838-39 he was sent to improve the navigation 
of the Mississippi at St. Louis, and to open a pas- 
sage for the river at the Des Moines Rapids. Here 
he executed one of his greatest feats of engineering. 

The following account of his services in the 
West is given by one of his early friends * in a 
notice of his death, published in the '' Chicago 
Daily Argus " : 

" General Gratiot, Chief of the Engineer Corps, 
on the recommendation of Generals Jones and 
Dodge, of Iowa, placed E,. E. Lee in charge of the 
improvements of the rapids of the Mississippi 
River. His exhibition of skill as an engineer and 
reliable manager made for him thousands of ad- 
mirers and friends on the Upper and Lower Mis- 
sissippi, and secured for him the confidence and 
consideration of his superior officers." 

" In 1838-39 there was a serious alarm and real 
danger of the Mississippi River cutting a channel 
on the Illinois side, by which St. Louis would have 
become a ^ deserted village,' when the talent and 
skill of R. E. Lee were sought and obtained. He 
conceived and executed a plan which saved St. 
Louis from destruction as a commercial city.'' 

* Captain May, of Illinois. 



32 A POPULAK LIFE OF [1839, 

While the work was in progress, the people of 
Missouri clamored and criticised and predicted 
failure. Unmoved by public opinion, he went on 
steadily — and succeeded. 

Free from the egotism and vanity of other men, 
modest yet firm, he reasoned out his plans, and then 
never swerved from the proper line of execution. 
This firmness and confidence came from thinking 
of things and principles — not of other men and 
their opinions. 

It was while upon this duty that the following 

letter was written to Mrs. Lee, which shows him 

most amiably in the tender relation of husband and 

father. 

"Louisville, June 5th, 1839. 

''My dearest Maey: — I arrived here last night, 
and before going out this morning will inform 3^ou 
of my well-doing thus far. 

" After leaving Stanton, I got on very Avell, but 
did not reach Guyandotte till Sunday afternoon, 
where before alighting from the stage I espied a 
boat descending the river in which I took passage 
to Cincinnati. 

" You do not know how much I have missed you 
and the children, my dear Mary. To be alone in 
a crowd is very solitary. In the woods I feel 
sympathy with the trees and birds in whose com- 
pany I take delight, but experience no interest in 
a strange crowd. 

"I hope you are all well, and will continue so; 



1842.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 33 

and therefore must again urge upon you to be very 
prudent and careful of those dear children. If I 
could only get a squeeze at that little fellow turn- 
ing up his sweet mouth to ' keese Baba ! ' You 
must not let him run wild in my absence, and will 
have to exercise firm authority over all of them. 
This will not require severity, or even strictness, 
but constant attention, and an unwavering course. 
Mildness and forbearance, tempered by firmness 
and judgment, will strengthen their affection for 
you, while it will maintain your control over 
them." 

In 1842 Captain Lee was sent to Fort Hamilton, 
in ^ew York harbor, and while there, was, in 1844, 
appointed one of the board of visitors to the West 
Point Academy. 

The following letter, written about this time to 
one of his children, will show what admirable les- 
sons he was ever ready to impart to them. 

"Fort Hamilton, March 31st, 1846. 
" I cannot go to bed, my dear son, without 
writing you a few lines to thank you for your letter, 
which gave me great pleasure. I am glad to hear 
you are well, and hope you are learning to read and 
write, and that the next letter you will be able to 
write yourself. I want to see you very much, and 
to tell you all that has happened since you went 
away. I do not think I ever told you of a fine boy 
I heard of in my travels this winter. He lived in 
tho mountains of IN^ew Hampshire. He was just 

C 



34 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1846. 

13 years old, the age of Custis. His father was a 
farmer, and he used to assist him to work on his 
farm as much as he could. The snow there this 
winter was deeper than it has been for years, and 
one day he accompanied his father to the woods to 
get some wood. They went with their wood-sled, 
and after cutting a load and loading the sled, this 
little hoy, whose name was Harry, drove it home, 
while his father cut another load. He had a line 
team of horses, and returned very quickly, when 
he found his father lying prostrate on the frozen 
snow, under the large limb of a tree he had felled 
during his absence, which had caught him in its 
fall, and thrown him to the ground. He was cold 
and stiff; and little Harry, finding he was not strong 
enough to relieve him from his position, seized his 
axe, and cut off the limb, and then rolled it off of 
him. He then tried to raise him, but his father 
was dead, and his feeble efforts were all in vain. 
Although he was out in the far woods by himself, 
and had never before seen a dead person, he was 
nothing daunted, but backed his sled close up to 
his father, and with great labor got his body on it, 
and placing his head in his lap, drove home to his 
mother as fast as he could. The efforts of his 
mother to reanimate him were equally vain with 
his own, and the sorrowing neighbors came and 
dug him a grave under the cold snow, and laid him 
quietly to rest. His mother was greatly distressed 
at the loss of her husband, but she thanked God, 
who had given her so good and brave a son. 

" You and Custis must take great care of your kind 



1846.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 35 

mother and dear sisters, when your father is dead. 
To do that, you must learn to be good. Be true, 
kind, and generous, and pray earnestly to God to 
enable you to ' keep his commandments, and walk 
in the same all the days of your life.' Alec and 
Frank are well, and the former has begun to ride 
his pony Jim, again. Captain Bennett has bought 
his little boy a donkey, and as I came home I met 
him riding, with two large ^Newfoundland dogs fol- 
lowing, one on each side. The dogs were almost 
as large as the donkey. My horse, Jerry, did not 
know what to make of them. I go to ISTew York 
now, on horseback, every day; one day I ride 
Jerry, and the next Tom, and I think they begin 
to go better under the saddle than formerly. I hope 
to come on soon, to see that little baby you have 
got to show me. You must give her a kiss for me, 
and one to all the children, and to your mother and 
grandmother. Good-bye, my dear son. 

" Your affectionate father, 
"E. E. Lee. 
" To Wm. H. Fitzhugh Lee, 

" Arlington, D. C." 

General Lee told an interesting little incident 
connected with one of his boys (Custis), which we 
will give here. 

When a very little child, his father took him to 
walk, one winter's day, in the snow, holding him 
by the hand. Soon the boy dropped behind. Look- 
ing over his shoulder, he saw Custis imitating his 
every movement, with head and shoulders erect, 



36 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1847. 

putting his little feet exactly in his father's foot- 
prints. " When I saw this/' said the General, " I 
said to myself, * It behooves me to walk very 
straight, when this fellow is already following in 
my tracks.'" 



CHAPTER III. 



The Mexican War — Letter to his Sons — Vera Cruz — Cerro 
Gordo — Encomiums of General Scott — Passage of the Pedrigal 
— Wounded at Chapultepec — Promotion. 

LIEUTEKA:N'T lee was now to exchange the 
quiet and comparative ease of garrison life for 
the stirring scenes of war. The difficulties with 
Mexico had culminated in a declaration of hos- 
tilities. 

Early in 1847, General Scott commenced to col- 
lect troops on the Island of Lobos, for an expedi- 
tion against Vera Cruz. Captain Lee was assigned 
to the central army in Mexico, as Chief Engineer 
under General Wool. 

The following letter, written at this time to his 
sons, Custis and W. H. F. Lee, then at Arlington, 
will be read with interest in this connection : 

" Ship Massachusetts, off Lobos, 

February 27th, 1847. 
'' My DEAR Boys : — I received your letters with 
the greatest pleasure, and, as T always like to talk 



1847.] GENEPvAL ROBERT E. LEE. 37 

to you both top:etlici% I will not separate yon in my 
letters, bnt write one to yon both. I was much 
gratified to hear of your progress at school, and 
hope that you will continue to advance, and that I 
shall have the happiness of finding you much im- 
proved in all your studies, on my return. I shall 
not feel my long separation from you, if I find that 
my absence has been of no injury to you, and that 
you have both grown in goodness and knowledge, 
as well as stature. But ah, how much I will suffer 
on my return, if the reverse has occurred ! You 
enter into all my thoughts, in all my prayers ; and 
on you, in part, will depend whether I shall be 
happy or miserable, as you know how much I love 
you. You must do all in your power to save me 
pain. You will learn, by my letter to your grand- 
mother, that I have been to Tampico. I saw many 
things to remind me of you, though that was not 
necessary to make me wish that you were with me. 
The river was so calm and beautiful, and the boys 
were playing about in boats, and swimming their 
ponies. Then there were troops of donkeys carry- 
ing water through the streets. They had a kind of 
saddle, something like a cart-saddle, though larger, 
that carried two ten-gallon kegs on each side, which 
was a load for a donkey. They had no bridles on, 
but would come along in strings to the river, and, 
as soon as their kegs were filled, start off again. 
They were fatter and sleeker than any donkeys I 
had ever seen before, and seemed to be better cared 
for. I saw a great many ponies, too. They were 
larger than those in the upper country, but did not 



38 A POPULAU LIFE OF [1847. 

seem so enduring. I got one to ride around the 
fortifications. He had a Mexican bit and saddle 
on, and paced delightfully, but every time my sword 
struck him on the flanks, would jump, and try to 
run oflT. Several of them had been broken to har- 
ness by the Americans, and I saw some teams in 
wagons, driven four-in-hand, well matched, and 
trotting well. We had a grand parade on General 
Scott's arrival. The troops were all drawn up on 
the bank of the river, and fired a salute as he passed 
them. He landed at the market, where lines of 
sentinels were placed to keep ofiT the crowd. In 
front of the landing the artillery was drawn up, 
wdiich received him in the centre of the column 
and escorted him through the streets to his lodg- 
ings. They had provided a handsome gray horse, 
richly caparisoned, for him to ride, but he preferred 
to walk with his staflE" around him, and a dragoon 
led the horse behind us. The windows along the 
streets w^e passed were crov/ded with people, and the 
boys and girls were in great glee — the Governor's 
Island band playing all the time. 

" There were six thousand soldiers in Tampico. 
Mr. Barry was the Adjutant of the escort. I think 
you would have enjoyed with me the oranges and 
sweet potatoes. Major Smith became so fond of 
the chocolate that I could hardly get him away 
from the house. We only remained there one day. 
I have a nice state-room on board this ship, Joe 
Johnston and myself occupy it, but my poor Joe is 
so sick all the time, I can do nothing w^ith him. I 
left Jem to come on with the horses, as I was afraid 



1847.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 39 

tliey would not be properly cared for. Vessels were 
expressly fitted up for the horses, and parties of 
dragoons detailed to take care of them. I had 
hoped they would reach here by this time, as I 
wanted to see how they were fixed. I took every 
precaution for their comfort, provided them w^ith 
bran, oats, etc., and had slings made to pass under 
them and attach the coverings above, so that, if in 
the heavy sea they should slip, or be thrown off 
their feet, they could not fall. I had to sell my 
good old horse ' Jim,' as I could not find room for 
him, or, rather, I did not want to crowd the others. 
I know I shall want him when I land. Creole was 
the admiration of every one at Brazos, and they 
could hardly believe she had carried me so far and 
looked so well. Jem says there is nothing like her 
in all the country, and I believe he likes her better 
than Tom or Jerry.* The sorrel mare did not ap- 
pear to be so well after I got to the Brazos. I had 
to put one of the men on her whose horse had 
given out, and the saddle hurt her back. She had 
gotten well, however, before I left, and I told Jem 
to ride her every day. I hope they may both reach 
the shore again in safety, but I fear they will have 
a hard time. They will first have to be put aboard 
a steamboat and carried to the ship that lies about 
two miles out at sea, then hoisted in, and how 
we shall get them ashore again I do not know. 
Probably throw them overboard, and let them 
swim there. I do not think we shall remain here 
more than one day longer. General "Worth's and 

* Two horses that he had at Fort Hamilton. 



40 A POPULA]! LIFE OF [1847. 

General Twiggs' divisions have arrived, wliich in- 
clude the regulars, and I suppose the volunteers 
will be coming on every day. We shall probably 
go on the first (1st) down the coast, select a place 
for debarkation, and make all the arrangements 
preparatory for the arrival of the troops. I shall 
have plenty to do there, and am anxious for the 
time to come, and hope all may be successful. Tell 
Rob he must think of me very often, be a good boy, 
and always love his papa. Take care of Speck* 
and the colts. Mr. Sedgwick and all the officers 
send their love to you. 

" The ship rolls so that I can scarcely write. You 
must write to me very often. I am always glad to 
hear from you. Be sure that I am thinking of you, 
and that you have the prayers of 

'^ Your affectionate father, 

"11. E. Lee. 

"For CusTis and W. H, F. Lee, Arlington." 

On the 9th of March, 1847, the American army 
landed near Vera Cruz, and the next day began the 
investment of the city. The work was commenced 
by General Worth, and was carried on successfully. 
Batteries with siege and naval guns were erected 
by the engineers at points commanding the city. 

The bombardment began on the 22d of March, 
and in a few da3^s the city and castle surrendered. 

The elder brother of Captain Lee, Lieutenant 
Sidney Smith Lee, a gallant officer of the United 

* A little terrier who was a great pet. 



1847.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 41 

States Navy, served also in the siege of Vera Cruz, 
commandino: a detachment of seamen who were 
working the guns in the trenches. It was Captain 
Lee's duty as an engineer to direct the firing. 

He has often been heard to rehite how he saw his 
brother's white teeth gleaming through the smoke, 
and with what anxiety, after the firing of each gun, 
he would look to find if he was safe. 

Captain Lee rendered important services during 
the siege ; and General Scott, quick to appreciate 
military genius, appointed him to a position upon 
his personal staff, and always asked his opinion in 
the council, attaching great importance to it. 

In the Life of General Scott, written by himself, 
he speaks of the services rendered by Captain Lee 
during this siege, saying: " I am compelled to make 
special mention of Captain E. E. Lee, Engineer. 
This ofiicer greatly distinguished himself at the 
siege of Vera Cruz." 

Indeed, the whole of his career in Mexico is 
marked by the attention he obtained from his 
veteran commander. There is hardly a despatch in 
which his name is not honorably mentioned. 

At Cerro Gordo, General Scott wrote: ''I am 
compelled to make special mention of Captain R. 
E. Lee, Engineer. This ofiicer was again inde- 
fiitigable during these operations in reconnoissances, 
as daring as laborious, and of the utmost value. 
ISTor was he less conspicuous in planning batteries, 
4* 



42 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1847. 

and in conducting columns to tlieir stations under 
the heavy fire of the enemy." 

During one of these reconnoissances, Captain 
Lee ventured so far from his supporting column 
(Loring's Eifles), that he found himself right in 
amongst the enemy. He concealed himself under 
a fallen tree, near a spring where the Mexicans 
obtained water. While he lay there, Mexican 
soldiers passed and repassed over the tree, and even 
sat down upon it, without discovering him.* He 
remained until night enabled him to retire in 
safety. 

From Cerro Gordo the army pushed on to the 
capital. The direct road to the city had been well 
fortified, but these defences were overcome, and the 
battles of Contreras, Cherubusco, Molinos del Rey, 
and Chapultepec, placed the city of Mexico in the 
hands of the victorious Americans. 

In his accounts of these battles, General Scott 
says : " August 18th, 1847 — A reconnoissance was 
commenced to the left of San Augustin, first over 
difficult ground, and further on over the same field 
of volcanic matter which extends to the mountain. 

" The reconnoissance was continued to-day by 
Captain Lee, assisted by Lieutenants Beauregard 
and Tower, all of the Engineers, who were joined 
in the afternoon by Major Smith, of the same corps, 

* "I am reserved for some great purpose," said Clive, in his 
obscure youth, when he escaped wonderfully a great danger. 



1847.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 43 

and other divisions coming up, Pillow was advanced 
to make a practicable road for heavy artillery, and 
Twiggs thrown farther in front to cover the opera- 
tions, for by the partial reconnoissance of yesterday, 
Captain Lee discovered a large corps of observation 
in that direction, with a detachment of which, his 
supports of cavalry and foot, under Captain Kearney 
and Lieutenant-Colonel Graham, respectively, had 
a successful skirmish." 

The following interesting account of Captain 
Lee's great achievement, the ^' Passage of the 
Pedrigal," is given by a distinguished officer of the 
United States service.* 

" On the 19th of August, 1847, General Scott's 
headquarters were at San Augustin, a village four 
or five miles south of Churubusco. The main road 
running south from the city of Mexico forks at 
Churubusco, one branch leading to San Augustin ; 
the other, running in a south-westerly direction, 
passes a little to the east of the village of Contreras, 
and of a somewhat elevated Plateau about three- 
quarters of a mile beyond, or south of Contreras. 
The distances from Churubusco to the Plateau, and 
from the Plateau to San Augustin, are each about 
equal to that from San Augustin to Churubusco. 
The triangular space included between the roads, 
and a ridge of hills south of San Augustin, as the 

* When General Scott was asked what was the most daring 
achievement of the war, he said, " Lee's crossing the Pedrigal ;" 
and General Poinsett, who had seen the Pedrigal, said, "It la 
true: it is incredible." 



44 A POPULAH LIFE OF [1847. 

third side, is known as tlic Pcdrigal. This Pedrigal 
is a vast surface of volcanic rocks and scorise, 
broken into every possible form, presenting sharp 
ridges, and deep fissures, exceedingly difficult for 
the passage, even in the day-time, of infantry, and 
utterly impassable for artillery, cavalry, or single 
horsemen. There are occasional intervals, especially 
near San Augustin, where small fields have been 
made and tilled, but these little oases grow smaller 
and more infrequent towards the west, and a mile 
or two from the Plateau cease altogether, so that 
the country from above Contreras to the ridge of 
hills on the south is an almost unbroken field of 
desolation, such as lava would present when in a 
state of violent ebullition. Indeed it appears like 
a sea of such lava suddenly congealed, w^ith here 
and there clumps of hardy, thorny bushes, and 
dwarf-trees, which have managed to force an ex- 
istence from the apparently sterile rock. By taking 
advantage of the small open spaces, a difficult, 
crooked, and hardly passable road, not much better 
than a mule track, had been opened between San 
Augustin and the Plateau, in front of which it 
joins the road to the city of Mexico. On the 
Plateau, General Valencia had intrenched his fine 
division, about six thousand strong, with twenty- 
four guns, which completely commanded the ap- 
proach from San Augustin. A mile or more north 
of Contreras, and the neighboring hamlet of An- 
selda, and on the main city road, lay General Santa 
Anna, with a portion of the reserves of the Mexi- 
can army. 



1847.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 45 

" On the morning of the 19th, General Scott 
ordered Pillow's and Twiggs's divisions to move 
from San Augustin towards the Plateau, the ground 
having been previously reconnoitred by Captain 
R. E. Lee, assisted by Lieutenants Beauregard 
and Tower, of the Engineers. Pillow was directed 
to work the road with his force, and, if possible, to 
make it practicable for artillery. Twiggs was 
thrown in advance to cover the working parties. 
General Scott, in his official report, written that 
same day, says : 

" ' By three o'clock, this afternoon, the advanced 
divisions came to a point where the new road could 
only be continued under the direct fire of twenty- 
two pieces of the enemy's artillery (most of them 
of large calibre), placed in a strong intrenched 
camp, to oppose our operations; and surrounded 
by every advantage of ground, besides immense 
bodies of cavalry and infantry, hourly reinforced 
from the city, over an excellent road beyond the 
volcanic field, and consequently entirely beyond the 
reach of our cavalry and artillery. 

u 4 Arriving on the ground an hour later, I found 
that Pillow's and Twiggs's divisions had advanced 
to dislodge the enemy, picking their way (all officers 
on foot) along his front, and extending themselves 
towards the road from the city and the enemy's 
left. . . . The battle, though mostly stationary, con- 
tinued to rage with great violence until nightfall.' 

" In the meantime, portions of Riley's, Persifer 
Smith's, Shields's, and Cadwallader's brigades, had 
made their way across the Pedrigal to Contreras, 



46 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1847. 

whence tliey watclied the approach of the Mexican 
troops from the city. Captani Lee accompanied 
these troops, and the nature of the ground can, per- 
haps, best be understood from the description given 
of it by one who passed over it at the time. 

'' He says : ' Late in the morning of the 19th, the 
brigade to whicli my regiment was attached (Riley's) 
was sent out from San Augustin in the direction 
of Contreras. "We soon struck a region over which 
it was said no horses could go, and men only with 
great difficulty. iTo road was available, my regi- 
ment was in advance, my company leading, and its 
point of direction was a church-spire near, or at 
Contreras. Taking the lead, we soon struck the 
Pedrigal — a field of volcanic rock, like boihng 
scoriae suddenly solidified, pathless, precipitous, 
and generally compelling rapid gait, in order to 
spring from point to point of rock, on which two 
feet could not rest, and which cut through our 
shoes. A fall upon this sharp material would have 
seriously cut and injured, whilst the effort to climb 
some of it cut the hands. Such was the general 
character of the part crossed by my regiment, and 
I believe by the brigades, though many, not push- 
ing as I did, may have picked out a circuitous and 
better route. Jnst before reaching the main road 
from Contreras to the city of Mexico, we reached a 
watery ravine, the sides of which were nearly per- 
pendicular, and up which I had to be pushed, and 
had to pull others. On looking back over this bed 
of lava or scoriae, I saw the troops, much scattered, 
very slowly picldng their way, while of my own 



1847.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 47 

company (about eiglity or ninety strong) only five 
men crossed with me, or for some twenty minutes 
after. With these five I examined the country 
beyond, and struck upon small guards of a pay- 
master's park — which, from the character of the 
country over which we had passed, was deemed 
perfectly safe from capture. My men gained a pay- 
master's chest, well filled with bags of silver dollars; 
the firing and fuss we made frightened the guard, 
with the belief that the infernals were upon them, 
and hastened our own men to our support. 

^' ^Before sundown, all of Riley's, and I believe of 
Cadwallader's, Smith's, and Pierce's brigades, were 
over, and by nine o'clock a council of war, pre- 
sided over by Persifer Smith, and counselled by 
Captain R. E. Lee, was held at the church. I 
have always understood that what was devised, and 
finally decided upon, was advised by Captain Lee — 
at all events, it was closed by his saying that he 
desired to return to General Scott, with the deter- 
mination of General Smith ; and as it was late, the 
decision must be given soon; that General Scott 
wished him to return in time to give directions for 
co-operation. 

" ' During the council, and for hours after, the rain 
fell in torrents, and the darkness was intense — one 
could move only by groping. To illustrate : my 
company again led to gain the Mexican rear, after 
nearly two hours of motion, when light broke suf- 
ficiently to enable us to see a companion a few feet 
ofi'; we had moved not four hundred yards, and 
the only persons present, after a few minutes, were 
half a dozen officers and one guide. 



48 A POPULAE LIFE OF [1847. 

" ' Captain Lee left the council to join General 
Scott. History gives him the credit of succeeding, 
but it has always seemed incredible to me, with the 
distance, the dangers of that Pedrigal to be over- 
come, amid such darkness and storm, unaccom- 
panied, I believe, by lightning. Scarcely a step 
could have been taken without fear of death, — but 
that to him, a true soldier, was the willing risk of 
duty in such a cause. I would not believe it could 
have been made — that passage of the Pedrigal — 
if he had not said he made it.' 

" General Scott, in the report from which we have 
already quoted, says of this same night : 

" ' It was already dark, and the cold rain had begun 
to fall in torrents on our unsheltered troops. Wet, 
hungry, and without the possibility of sleep, all our 
gallant corps, I learn, are full of confidence, and 
only wait for the last hour of darkness to gain the 
positions whence to storm and carry the enemy's 
works. Of the seven officers dispatched since about 
sundown, from my position opposite to the enemy's 
centre, and on this side of the field of rocks and 
lava, to communicate instructions to the hamlet 
[Contreras], not one has succeeded in getting 
through those difiiculties, increased by darkness. 
They have all returned. But the gallant and inde- 
fatigable Captain Lee, of the Engineers, who has 
been constantly with the operating forces, is just in 
from Shields, Smith, Cadwallader, &c., to report as 
above, and to ask that a powerful diversion be made 
against the centre of the intrenched camp, to-mor- 



1847.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 49 

" ' Brigadier-General Twiggs, cut oiFas above from 
the part of his division beyond the impracticable 
ground ; and Captain Lee, are gone, under my 
orders, to collect the forces remaining on this side, 
with which to make that diversion about iive o'clock 
in the morning.' * 

'^ The troops were collected, the diversion made, 
and the result of the combined movement, made 
possible only by Captain Lee's services, was the 
brilliant victory of Contreras, early on the follow- 
ing morning. 

'' Subsequently, General Scott, whilst giving testi- 
mony before a Court of Inquiry, had occasion to 
refer to these operations, and he thus speaks of the 
service rendered on this occasion by Captain Lee : 

" * Captain Lee, Engineers, came to me from the 
hamlet, with a message from Brigadier-General 
Smith, I think, about the same time [midnight], he 
having passed over the difficult ground by day- 
light, found it just possible to return to San Augus- 
tin in the dark; the greatest feat of physical and moral 
courage 'performed by any mdimdual, in my knowledge^ 
'pending the campaign,^ 

'^ When we remember that Captain Lee left the 
council-room at Contreras to pass over miles of 
such ground as we have described, in a pitch-dark 
night, without light, without a companion or a 
guide, with the additional danger to those we have 
named, that, if he wandered but little from his way 
toward the right, he would fall into the hands of 

* Executive Doc, No. 65 (Senate), 30th Congress, 1st Session, 
p. 73. 

6 D 



60 APOPULARLIFEOF [1847. 

Valencia, if to the left, into those of Santa Anna ; 
the risks also of falling in with straggling parties 
of Mexicans, some of which we have seen here in 
the Peclrigal ; that he had nothing to guide him on 
his way but the direction of the wind, as it beat the 
torrents of cold rain upon his face, and perhaps an 
occasional flash of lightning to give him a momen- 
tary glimpse of the country around him : it will be 
acknowledged that General Scott, considering the 
object for which this was done, the manner of doing 
it, and the results, has characterized this deed of 
devotion by the only terms, exalted as they are, 
that could appropriately describe it. 

"H. J. H." 

At Chapultepec Captain Lee was wounded. His 
skill and bravery had contributed essentially to the 
great achievement which closed the campaign. 

In his ofiicial report of this battle. General Scott 
pays a high compliment to Captain Lee, who was, 
he declares, "as distinguished for felicitous execu- 
tion, as for science and daring ; " and he says fur- 
ther : " Captain Lee, so constantly distinguished, also 
bore important orders from me (September 13th), 
until he fainted from a wound, and the loss of two 
nights' sleep at the batteries." 

Years after, General Scott was heard to declare, 
" Lee is the greatest military genius in America." 

Captain Lee was twice promoted for his services 
in Mexico. In 1847 he was bre vetted Major for 
gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of 



1847.] 



GENERAL ROBERT E.LEE 



51 



Cerro Gordo, and 
Colonel by Bre- 
vet, for his con- 
duct at Contre- 
ras and Cheru- 
busco. 

It has been 
remarked by 
many of the of- 
ficers who serv- 
ed with him in 
this campaign, 
that so popular 
was Robert E. 
Lee, that no 
one in the army 
was jealous of 
his promotion, 
but all acknow- 
ledged his title to 
bestowed upon him. 



later was made Lieutenant- 




Captain Lee, 
Wounded at Chapultepec. 

it, and rejoiced in the honora 



A POPULAR LIFE OF [1855. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Close of the War — Stationed near Baltimore — Placed in charge 
of the Military Academy at West Point — Transferred to the 
Cavalry — Ordered to Texas — Indian Warfare — Letters to hia 
Family — Hardships of Frontier Service — Return to Arlington. 

AT the close of the war, Colonel Lee was ap- 
pointed member of the Board of Engineers, 
and stationed at Sollers Point, near Baltimore. 
Engaged in the construction of Fort Calhoun, he 
was occupied with that work until made Superin- 
tendent of the Military Academy at West Point in 
1852. Here he remained three years. During his 
administration, the course of study was extended to 
five years, and various improvements were made in 
the Academy and its surroundings. Colonel Lee 
built the fine Riding Hall, made the fine road, the 
wharf, and other improvements. 

In 1855, when several new cavalry regiments 
Avere organized, he was commissioned Lieutenant- 
Colonel of the second cavalry. This regiment was 
commanded by Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, 
and it is remarkable as having given many officers * 

* Major William J. Hardee, Major George H. Thomas ; Cap- 
tains Carl Van Dorn, Kirby Smith; Lieutenants Hood, Field, 
Cosby, Fitzhugh Lee, Johnson, Stoneman, and Palmer, — who all 
became general officers on the Southern side, except Thomas and 
the three last-named, who became prominent generals in the 
Federal army. 



1856.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 53 

of high rank to both sides in the war which has 
lately terminated, and for having furnished more 
generals than any regiment of the old army. 

For several years it was employed in Texas against 
the Indians, and Colonel Lee bore an active part in 
this warfare, greatly distinguishing himself in one 
of the most desperate battles. 

From his own memorandum-book we learn that 
he " left Alexandria, February 12th, 1856, ... on 
my way to rejoin my regiment," &c. 

March 1st, 1856. Reached Galveston. 

March 6th. Reached San Antonio at five p. m., 
and took up my quarters with Mrs. P., in the 
Plaza. 

March 7th. Commenced preparations for journey 
to Fort Mason. 

March 21si. Left at ten a. m., for Fort Mason. 

March 2bth. Arrived at Fort Mason eleven a. m., 
twenty miles from our camp ; reported my arrival 
to Colonel A. S. Johnston. 

March 27th. Received orders from Colonel John- 
ston to repair to Camp Cooper, and assume com- 
mand of the first and fifth squadrons of the regi- 
ment there stationed. 

April 9th, 1856. Reached Camp Cooper, situated 

in the Camanche Reserve, on the Clear Fork of the 

Brazos, thirty-five miles from its mouth, about two 

miles above the Indian Agency. 

Lodges of the Indians situated on the left bank 
5* 



54 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1856. 

of the river. Catumseli, chief of the tribe, resides 
on the reserve. 

The following letters, written to one of his family 
at this time, will give some idea of the arduous duty 
to which he was here assigned, and of his senti- 
ments on points of great interest already beginning 
to agitate the country : 

" Camp Cooper, 
" On the Clear Fork of the Brazos, 
" 12th April, 1856. 

" Colonel Hardee, whom I relieve at this 

place, goes on Monday to Fort Mason. I am very 
sorry to part with him. Four companies are 
stationed here under Captains Van Dorn, Stone- 
man, O'Hara, and Whiting. We are on the Ca- 
manche Reserve, with the Indian camps below us 
on the river, belonging to Catumseh's band, whom 
the Government is endeavoring to humanize. It 
will be up-hill work, I fear. Catumseh has been to 
see me, and we have had a talk, very tedious on his 
part, and very sententious on mine. I hailed him 
as a friend, as long as his conduct and that of his 
tribe deserved it, but would meet him as an enemy 
the first moment he failed to keep his word. The 
rest of the tribe (about a thousand, it is said) live 
north of us, and are hostile. Yesterday I returned 
his visit, and remained a short time at his Lodge. 
He informed me that he had six wives. They are 
riding in and out of camp all day, their paint and 
^ ornaments ' rendering them more hideous than 
nature made them, and the whole race is extremely 



1856.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 55 

uninteresting We have a nightly 

serenade from the wolves." 

The memorandum-book says : 
" On the 13th — assumed command of the post. 
Reviewed and inspected the command." 

On the 28th of July he writes : 

^' I have just returned from my expedition into 
the Camanche country; had a long trip of forty 
days, and traversed the separate columns, 1,600 
miles of country. The main column, which I 
accompanied, travelled eight hundred miles. We 
visited the head-waters of the Wachita and Bra- 
zos rivers, the Double Mountains, and all the 
branches of the Double Mountain Fork, and in 
five separate columns (on our return) swept down 
the valleys of the Concha, the Colorado, and 
Red Fork, to the Sausaba country, and Pecan 
Bayou. We could find no Indians, and all the 
traces of them w^ere old. The country had been 
fired in many places, and in some places it was still 
burning and abandoned. At this season of the year 
the Indians are generally north of the Arkansas, 
hunting Buffalo. We came up with a small party, 
four men and one woman, whom we had traced for 
nearly two hundred miles. The men were killed, 
and the woman captured, by the advance, their 
horses, thirteen in number, and all their property, 
taken. The woman I have sent to the tribe below 
us, where her father resides. These were the only 
Indians seen. 

" The weather was intensely hot, and as we had 



56 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1856. 

no tents, we had the full benefit of the sun. The 
men were generally healthy, though the water was 
scarce and bad, salt, sweet, bitter, and brackish. I 
have enjoyed good health." 

" Camp Cooper, August 4th, 1856. 

" .... I hope your father enjoyed his usual 
celebration of the 4th of July. Myfourth was spent 
(after a march of thirty miles) on a branch of the 
Brazos, under my blanket, which was elevated on 
four sticks driven in the ground — as a sun-shade. 

" The sun was fiery hot. The atmosphere like the 
blast from a hot-air furnace, the water salt; still my 
feelings for my country were as ardent, my faith in 
her future as true, and my hopes for her advance- 
ment as unabated, as if called forth under more pro- 
pitious circumstances. 

'' The weather still continues hot and dry, with no 
prospect of rain, and our hopes for a few cabbage- 
plants and roasting ears have passed away. 

" We must bear it. The worst is, that the Clear 
Fork no longer deserves its title, but is converted 
into fetid stagnant pools. However, we enjoy good 
health, have plenty of meat and bread, and have 
great cause for gratitude." 

On the 25th of the same month, he writes from 
Camp Cooper: 

" .... I shall leave here on the 1st proximo, as 
before stated, for the Eio Grande, and shall be 
absent in all probability from two and a half to 
three months. 



1856.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 57 

" You must write regularly, as usual, and I will do 
the same by every opportunity. . . . 

"• I shall have to pass through San Antonio going 
and returning — will go from here to Fort Mason, 
pick up Major Thomas and take him travelling with 
me, and thus shall have a companion all the way, 
which will be a great comfort to me. 

'' I received to-day notice (through my spies) that a 
party of Camanches who have been on a marauding 
expedition to Mexico, which is a cloak to cover all 
their thefts and murders, are endeavoring to get 
around our camp on their way north, and are some 
fifteen miles below. They have separated into 
gangs of six, eight, and ten, to escape detection. I 
am in the act of sending out a company of cavalry 
to endeavor to catch them, Avhich I hope may be 
successful. I should go myself but for my forced 
journey to the Rio Grande, and as I have directed, 
they must be followed twenty days if not sooner 
come up with. I might be detained too late should 
I go. 

*' These people give a world of trouble to man and 
horse, and, poor creatures ! they are not worth it." 

The memorandum-book next tells us : 

'' Sept 2d Left Camp Cooper for Ringgold Bar- 
racks to attend a court-martial. 

Sept. SOth. Court adjourned to Fort Brown, Texas. 
Nov. Ath. Landed at Fort Brown." 

E'ext in date comes a pleasant picture of his 
peaceful life and pursuits. 



58 APOPULARLIFEOF [1850. 

"Fort Browx, Texas, December, 1856. 

" The time is approaching, dear M , 

when I trust that many of you will be assembled 
around the family hearth of dear Arlington to cele- 
brate another Christmas. Though absent, my heart 
will be in the midst of you. I shall enjoy in imagi- 
nation and memory all that is going on. May noth- 
ing occur to mar or cloud the family fireside, and 
may each one be able to look with pride and pleas- 
ure to their deeds of the past year, and with con- 
fidence and hope to that in prospect. I can do 
nothing but love and pray for you all." .... 

" I am able to give you but little news, 

as nothing of interest transpires here, and I rarely 
see any one outside the garrison. My daily walks 
are alone, up and dow^n the banks of the river, and 
my pleasure is derived from my own thoughts and 
from the sight of the flowers and animals I there 
meet with. The birds of the Kio Grande form a 
constant source of interest, and are as numerous as 
they are beautiful in plumage. I wish I could get 
for you the roots of some of the luxuriant vines that 
cover everything, or the seeds of the innumerable 
flowers. 

'' We get plenty of papers, but all of old dates. 
Things seem to be going on as usual in the States. 
Mr. Buchanan, it appears, is to be our next Presi- 
dent. I hope he will be able to extinguish fanati- 
cism ^orth and South, cultivate love for the coun- 
try and Union, and restore harmony between the 
different sections. I am anxious to see who will be 
the Secretary of War." 



1856] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 69 

"Fort Brown, Texas, 27th Dec, 1856. 

" I have just received the Alexandria 

Gazette from the 2ath_-l^ov. to the 18th Dec. in- 
clusive. Besides the usual good reading-matter, I 
am interested in the relation of local affairs, and in- 
fer, from the quiet and ordinary course of events, 
that all is going on well, especially (I hope) at Ar- 
lington. 

" The steamer also hrought the President's Mes- 
sage, the reports of the various heads of Departments, 
&c., &c., so that we are assured the government is 
in operation and the Union in existence 

" I was much pleased with the President's Mes- 
sage. His views of the systematic and progressive 
efforts of certain people at the ]^orth to interfere 
with and change the domestic institutions of the 
South are truthfully and faithfully expressed. The 
consequences of their plans and purposes are also 
clearly set forth. These people must be aware that 
their object is both unlawful and foreign to them 
and to their duty, and that this institution for 
which they are irresponsible and unaccountable, 
can only be changed by them through the agency 
of a civil and servile war. 

" There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, 
who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institu- 
tion is a moral and political evil in any country. It 
is useless to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think 
it a greater evil to the white than to the black race. 
While my feelings are strongly enlisted in behalf 
of the latter, my sympathies are more strong for 



60 APOPULARLIFEOF [1856. 

the former. The hlacks are immeasurably better 
off here than in Africa, morally, physically, and 
socially. The painful discipline they are under- 
going is necessary for their further instruction as a 
race, and I hope will prepare them for better things. 
How long their servitude may be necessary is known 
and ordered by a Merciful Providence. Their eman^ 
cipation will sooner result from the mild and melt- 
ing influences of Christianity, than from the storms 
and tempests of fiery controversy. This influence, 
though slow, is sure. The doctrines and miracles 
of our Saviour have required nearly two thousand 
years to convert but a small portion of the human 
race, and even among Christian nations what gross 
errors still exist! While we see the course of the 
final abolition of human slavery is still onward, and 
give it the aid of our prayers, and all justifiable 
means in our power, we must leave the progress as 
well as the result in His hands who sees the end ; 
who chooses to work by slow influences; w^ith whom 
two thousand years are but as a single day. Although 
the Abolitionist must know this, must know that he 
has neither the right nor the power of operating, 
except b}^ moral means, and that to benefit the slave, 
he must incite angry feelings in the Master ; that, 
although he may not approve the mode by which 
Providence accomplishes its purpose, the result will 
still be the same, that the reasons he gives for inter- 
ference in what he has no concern with, holds good 
with every kind of interference with our neighbor; 
Btill I fear he will persevere in his evil course. 
" Is it not stransre that the descendants 



1857.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 61 

of those pilgrim fatliers who crossed the Atlantic to 
preserve their own freedom of opinion have always 
proved themselves most intolerant of the spiritual 
liberty of others? 

" I hope you all had a joyous Christmas at Arling- 
ton, and that it may be long and often repeated. I 
thought of you and wished to be with you. Mine 
was gratefully but silently passed. I endeavored to 
iind some presents for the children in the garrison, 
and succeeded better than I anticipated. The stores 
were very barren, but by taking them the week be- 
forehand in my daily walks, I picked up something 

for all. Tell M I found a beautiful Dutch 

doll for little Emma, one of those crying babies that 
can open and shut its eyes. For two others, hand- 
some French teapots to match their cups. Then 
with knives and books I satisfied the boys. After 
this, went to church, then by previous invitation, 
Major Thomas and I dined with the clergyman, 
Mr. Passmore, on roast turkey and plum pudding. 

God bless you all ! 

''Yours, Pv. E.Lee." 

" FoET Brown, January, 1857. 
" .... I hear that my young Lieutenants have 
been very successful during my absence. Captains 
Bradfute and Johnson, Lieutenants Jenifer and 
Wetherell, have at different times intercepted ma- 
rauding parties of Indians, and chastised them se- 
verely. Upwards of a dozen in the four encounters 
were killed, and more wounded, and all their horses, 
animals, camp-equipage, &c., captured. It is a dis- 
6 



62 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1857. 

tressing state of things that requires the apphcation 
of such treatment ; but it is the only corrective they 
understand, the only way in which they can be 
brought to keep within their own limits. Two of 
our men were killed, shot through the breast with 
arrows ; and three or four wounded." 

The next date in the memorandum-book tells 
us : " Feb'y 6th, 1857. Returned to San Antonio. 
Ordered to another Court Martial at Indianola. 

" March SOth. Returned to San Antonio. 

" April 18th. To Camp Cooper." 

From the latter port he writes : 

" June 22, 1857- 

" There is little to relate. The hot weather seems 
to have set in permanently. The thermometer 
rano-es above 100° ; but the sickness amono^ the 
men is on the decrease, though there has been an- 
other death among the children. He was as hand- 
some a little boy as I ever saw — the son of one of 
our sergeants, about a year old ; I was admiring his 
appearance the day before he was taken ill. Last 
Thursday his little waxen form was committed to 
the earth. His father came to me, the tears flowing 
down his cheeks, and asked me to read the funeral 
service over his body, which I did at the grave for 
the second time in my life. I hope I shall not be 
called on again, for, though I believe it is far better 
for the child to be called by its Heavenly Creator 
into His presence in its purity and innocence, un- 
polluted by sin and uncontaminated by the vices of 
the world, still it so wrings a parent's heart with 



1857.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 63 

anguish that it is painful to see. Yet I know it 
was done in mercy to both, mercy to the child, 
mercy to the parents. The former has been saved 
from sin and misery here; and the latter have been 
given a touching appeal and powerful inducement 
to prepare for hereafter. May it prove effectual, 
and may they require no further severe admonition. 
"May God guard and bless you all! 
"Truly and affectionately yours, 

" R. E. Lee." 

A few days later, June 29th, he says : 

". . Since I last wrote (22dJune), nothing of conse- 
quence has occurred. It was excessively hot yester- 
day. At 2 p. M. the thermometer stood at 112°. 
Kept at the Hospital Tent, the coolest place we 
have. The range of the mercury is recorded every 
day. 

" We had an alarm that a body of Indians were 
coming down from the JS'orth, to attack our camp 
and the Indians on the reserve. The news was 
brought by two Camanches. The Indian camp was 
in great excitement, and they kept their horses sad- 
dled all night, but I confess I was incredulous, and 
went to bed with no expectation of being disturbed; 
now their apprehensions have subsided." 

From the " memorandum " we go on to quote : 

''July 23(i. Express comes from San Antonio, 
bringing orders for Colonel Johnston to report in 
person at Washington, and to turn over the com- 
mand to me, ordering me to San Antonio. 



64 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1857. 

July 27th. Arrived at San Antonio. 

August 1st. Took possession of the hoase 
vacated by Colonel Johnston — having taken com- 
mand of the regiment the 28th October. 

October 21st. Received telegraphic notice of the 
death of G. "W. P. "^Custis. ... Re- 
linquished command to Major Thomas, prepared to 
return home. 

November 11th. Reached Arlington." 

One of the officers who served with him at this 
time, says, in writing of him : ^^ In Texas, where 
Colonel Lee succeeded Colonel Albert Sidney John- 
ston as commandant of the department, he ex- 
amined everything thoroughly and continuously, 
until master of every detail, ever too conscientious 
to act under imperfect knowledge of any subject 
submitted to him. And with all his stern sense of 
duty he attracted the love, admiration, and confi- 
dence of all. The little children always hailed his 
approach with glee — his sincerity, kindliness of 
nature, and cordial manners, attracting their unre- 
served confidence." 



1859.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 65 



CHAPTER V. 

The John Brown War — Return to Texas — Letters to his Family 
— The gathering Storm — Summoned to Washington — Seces- 
sion of Virginia — The Sad Alternative — Resigns his Com- 
mission — Farewell to General Scott — To his Sister — His 
Reticence. 

IK tlie autumn of 1859, Colonel Lee was recalled 
to "Washington, and there ordered to take part 
in the '' John Brown War," as it was termed. 

In Colonel Lee's " Memorandum-Book " the fact 
is thus noted : 

'' Vjth Oct., 1859. Received orders from the 
Secretary of War, in person to repair in evening- 
train to Harper's Ferry. 

'' Reached Harper's Ferry at 11 p. m 

" Posted the Marines in the IJ. S. Armory. . . . 

" Waited until daylight, as a number of citizens 
were held as hostages, whose lives were threatened. 
Tuesday, about sunrise, with twelve marines under 
Lieut. Grreen, broke in the door of the engine- 
house, secured the insurgents, and released the 
prisoners unhurt. All the insurgents killed or 
mortally wounded, but four, John Brown, Stevens, 
Coppie, and Shields." 

John Brown, who had obtained great notoriety 
in the troubles in Kansas between the Pro-slavery 
6* E 



66 APOPULABLIFEOF [1859. 

and the Anti-slavery parties, came to Virginia to 
excite an insurrection among the slaves, thinking, 
with the aid promised him from Canada and else- 
where, to destroy that institution throughout the 
South. 

With sixteen whites and five negroes he seized 
the Government armory, arsenal, and rifle-factory at 
Harper's Ferry, and threw the inhabitants of the 
town and country into the greatest consternation. 

The news spread over the country, greatly ex- 
aggerated; and the Government took immediate 
measures to suppress the insurrection. General 
Scott being absent from Washington, the Secretary 
of War sent for Colonel Lee, as the most trusted 
officer of the army, who was dispatched with a bat- 
talion of marines to Harper's Ferry, where already 
the militia of the neighboring counties had as- 
sembled. 

The insurgents had taken prisoner some of the 
principal citizens, and with them had retired to the 
" engine-house " in the armory yard. 

Colonel Lee surrounded the building with his 
marines, and sent his aid Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart 
with a flag of truce, to demand a surrender, prom- 
ising to protect the insurgents from the violence 
of the citizens, and to secure them a trial according 
to law. These terms were refused by Brown, who 
demanded to be permitted to march out with his 
men, arms, and prisoners, to be allowed to go un- 



1859.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 67 

molested as far as the second toll-gate, where he 
would free his prisoners, and was then willing to 
fight the troops, if he could not escape from them. 

This proposition could not be listened to. Lieu- 
tenant Stuart then remonstrated with the insurgents 
upon the folly of their course. Insensible to his 
appeals, they announced their determination to kill 
the hostages, so soon as they were themselves 
attacked. Among the prisoners was Colonel Lewis 
Washington, of that neighborhood, whose voice 
was heard, " I^Tever mind us — fire ! " Colonel Lee 
is said to have remarked, upon hearing these words, 
" The old revolutionary blood does tell." 

It had been agreed upon between Colonel Lee 
and his Lieutenant, that in the event of the insur- 
gents proving inexorable. Lieutenant Stuart should 
raise his arm as a signal, when the marines would 
rush upon the door of the engine-house, through 
which the parleying took place, and by the sudden- 
ness of their attack so occupy the insurgents, as to 
save the lives of the prisoners. This was happily 
accomplished. The marines captured the building, 
and the hostages were released from their perilous 
position unharmed. Several of the insurgents were 
wounded, among them Brown himself. But for 
the precautions of Colonel Lee, there is no doubt 
that these men would have experienced hard treat- 
ment at the hands of the excited citizens. 

He at once telegraphed to AYashington for in- 



68 A POPULAR LIFE OP [1860. 

structions, and was directed to deliver his prisoners 
to the District Attorney for the District of Co- 
lumbia. 

From the memorandum-book we learn : 

" Fehrucmj 9th, 1860. Eeceived general orders, 
'No. 2, from the Headquarters of the Army assign- 
ing me to duty according to my Brevet rank, and 
directing me to assume the command of the Depart- 
ment of Texas. 

February/ 10th. At six a. m., left Arlington, &c. 

February 19th. Reached San Antonio, and took 
lodgings with Mrs. P., in the Plaza. 

February 20th. Assumed command of Depart- 
ment of Texas. 

March 16th. Finished arrangements preparatory 
to departure to Rio Grande. Left San Antonio at 
noon, and encamped on the Medina. 

March 16th. Continued my route ; report hav- 
ing reached me that Cortinas * was ascending the 
Rio Grande ; altered my march, &c. 

March 20th. Could get no account of Cortinas's 
whereabouts, or learn that he had . ever ascended 
the Rio Grande, higher than La Mesa, &c. ; re- 
sumed march, &c. 

March Slst. Reached Ringgold Barracks. 

April Sd. Followed the river-road to Browns- 
ville 

April 10th. Resumed journey; nearly all the 

* Cortinas was a notorious brigand. 



I860.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 69 

ranches on tlie road have been burned. Those 
spared by Cortinas, burned by the Rangers, &c. 

April 11th. Resumed journey ; reached the scene 

of Cortinas's defeat by Major Ileintzehnan 

Reached Fort Brown, a. m." 

The following letter, of date May 2d, Fort Brown, 
gives a more particular account of his movements: 

" Wlien I last wTote, dear M , I thought I 

should have been on my way to San Antonio, indeed 
had prepared to leave some days ago, wagons were 
greased, mules foraged, and men provisioned ; but 
the day before I was to have started, rumors came 
that Cortinas had returned to the vicinity of the 
Rio Grande, and yesterday the report was so straight 
that I laid a plan to take him by surprise; have sent 
two detachments across the river to attempt it. . . . 
If he should give us the slip, or should the report 
prove a false alarm, I will commence my journey to 
San Antonio, and leave the troops to watch and 
punish him if possible." 

The journal resumes : 

^' May 7th. Have been engaged corresponding 
with the Mexican authorities ; succeed in getting 
them to issue orders for the arrest of Cortinas. . . . 
He has left the frontier and withdrawn to the Ceritos 
with his property, hor»es, &c. 

May 8th. Commenced my journey to San An- 
tonio. 

May 17th. Reached San Antonio — distance 264 
miles. 



70 APOPULARLIFEOF [1801. 

December 19th. Left for lieadquarters of my 

regiment 

December 22d. Reached Ft. Mason." 

In a letter written at this time he says : 

" I am far from comfortable in my present situa- 
tion, though I feel that I have more than I deserve. 
My present position being but accidental, I have 
not thought it best to incur the expense of estab- 
lishing myself, and am therefore boarding." 

"Fort Masox, Texas, 28d January, 1861. 

^' I received Everett's ' Life of Washington,' 
which you sent me, and enjoyed its perusal. How 
his spirit would be grieved could he see the wreck 
of his mighty labors. I will not, however, permit 
myself to believe, until all the ground for hope is 
gone, that the fruit of his noble deeds Avill be de- 
stroyed, and that his precious advice and virtuous 
example will so soon be forgotten b}^ his country- 
men. As far as I can judge by the papers, we are 
between a state of anarchy and civil war. May 
God avert both of these evils from us ! I fear that 
mankind for years will not be sufficiently christian- 
ized to bear the absence of restraint and force. I 
see that four States have declared themselves out of 
the Union ; four more will apparently follow their 
example. Then, if the border States are brought 
into the gulf of revolution, one half of the country 
will be arrayed against the other. I must try and 
be patient and await the end, for I can do nothing 
to hasten or retard it." 



1861.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 71 

The last entries made in this memorandum-book 
are as follows : 

^^ February ISth, 1861. Kelinquished command of 
the regiment, Second Cavahy, and in compliance 
with Department Special Orders l!^o. 16, took my 
departure from Fort Mason and commenced my 
journey to Washington City, to report to the Com- 
mander-in-chief. 

16^A. Reached San Antonio 

22d. Arrived at Indianola 

25/A. Reached 'New Orleans. 

March 1st. Arrived in Alexandria; took a car- 
riage and reached Arlington." 

"We have seen with what interest and apprehension 
Colonel Lee, from his remote post in northwestern 
Texas, noted the approaching storm, but took no 
part in the agitations which excited the country. 

The election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presi- 
dency by the Republican or Anti-slavery party, 
alarmed the South, and early in 1861, seven of the 
Southern States withdrew from the Union and 
formed a new confederacy, which was termed the 
" Confederate States of America." 

For a long time, Virginia clung to the Union, 
exhausting every means in her power to preserve 
peace ; but finding that troops were to be sent to 
compel obedience, and being directed to furnish her 
quota of these troops, she took sides with the South, 
and in this course was followed by others of the 
slaveholdino: "Border States." 



72 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1861. 

At this crisis, the men of each section who had 
been scattered abroad, engaged in different occupa- 
tions, rushed to the old homes where had been left 
family and friends. Southern men who had lived 
happily a lifetime in the IN'orth, hurried back to the 
place of their birth, and IN^orthern men dwelling 
South felt the same devotion prompting them to 
side with their section in the approaching conflict. 

To none did this separation bring so painful a 
struggle between inclination and duty, as to the offi- 
cers of the army and navy, and to no individual a 
greater struggle than to Colonel Lee. ''For more 
than a quarter of a century he had served with dis- 
tinction in the Federal Army, in which, in the 
opinion of both the army and the country, he held 
only the second position." * He was expected by 
all to be the successor to General Scott, and was 
bound to him by the strongest ties of affection and 
respect. If he remained in the Federal Army, the 
highest honors awaited him. The President of the 
United States sent one of his Cabinet to offer him 
the command of the army,t and General Scott used 
all his great influence to induce him to remain. 

On the 18th of April, Colonel Lee was summoned 
to Washington by President Lincoln, when his in- 
terview with Mr. Blair took place. He then bade 
farewell to his old commander, who was much 

* Lee and his Campaigns. 

t Statement of Hon. Montgomery Blair. 



1861.] GENERAL liOBEKT E. LEE. 73 

affected, and who parted from liim with the words, 
^'Lee, you have made the greatest mistake of your 
life; but I feared it would be so." 

Colonel Lee's feelings are best explained by him* 
self in the following letter to General Scott, which 
accompanied his resignation as an officer in the 
United States Army: 

" Arlington, Va., April 20th, 1861. 

^' General : — Since my interview with you on 
the 18th inst., I have felt that I ought not to retain 
my commission in the army. I therefore tender 
my resignation, which I request you will recom- 
mend for acceptance. It would have been pre- 
sented at once but for the struggle it has cost me 
to separate myself from a service to which I have 
devoted all the best years of my life, and all the 
ability I possessed. 

" During the whole of that time, more than a 
quarter of a century, I have experienced nothing 
but kindness from my Superiors, and the most cor- 
dial friendship from my comrades. To no one. 
General, have I been as much indebted as to your- 
self for uniform kindness and consideration ; and 
it has always been my ardent desire to merit 
your approbation. I shall carry to the grave the 
most grateful recollections of your kind consid- 
eration ; and your name and fame will always be 
dear to me. 

" Save in defence of my native State, I never de- 
sire again to draw my sword. Be pleased to accept 
my most earnest wishes for the continuance of your 



74 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1861. 

happiness and prosperity, and believe me most 
truly yours, R. E. Lee. 

" Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, 

Commanding United States Army." 

A copy of the preceding letter was enclosed in 
the following one to his sister, Mrs. A. M., of Bal- 
timore. 

"Arlington, Va., April 20th, 1861. 

''My dear Sister: — I am grieved at my in- 
ability to see you I have been waiting 

for a ' more convenient season,' which has brought 
to many before me deep and lasting regret. Now 
we are in a state of war which will yield to noth- 
ing. The whole South is in a state of revolution, 
into which Virginia, after a long struggle, has been 
drawn ; and though I recognize no necessity for 
this state of things, and would have forborne and 
pleaded to the end for redress of grievances, real or 
supposed, yet, in my own person, I had to meet the 
question whether I should take part against my 
native State. 

"With all my devotion to the Union, and the 
feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, 
I have not been able to make up my mind to raise 
my hand against my relatives, my children, my 
home. I have, therefore, resigned my commission 
in the army, and, save in defence of my native 
State, with the sincere hope that my poor ser^dces 
may never be needed, I hope I may never be called 
on to draw my sword. I know you will blame me ; 
but you must think as kindly of me as you can, 



1861.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 75 

and believe that I have endeavored to do what 1 
thought right. To show you the feeUng and 
struggle it has cost me, I send a copy of my letter 

of resignation. I have no time for more 

May God guard and protect you and yours, and 
shower upon you everlasting blessings, is the prayer 
of your devoted brother, R. E. Lee." 

In the meantime, Virginia had passed her ordi- 
nance of secession, April 17th, 1861 ; but, from cir- 
cumstances well known at the time, the fact was 
concealed for some days. Before the decision of 
his State was known to him, on Monday the 22d, 
Colonel Lee sent in his resignation. A deputation 
came to invite him to take command of the State 
forces, and on the same day he left the home he was 
never again to see, and repaired to Richmond. 

Great must have been the sense of duty, and 
sublime the struggle, which resulted in this deci- 
sion. 'Not only did he sacrifice honors and distinc- 
tion, his private fortune, the military associations, 
which were so dear to him, but he knew that suf- 
fering and privation were before him, that the 
name of traitor would be applied to him by the 
Government he had served so well, and that he 
would lose many of the best friends of his early life 
and manhood. Whenever a man acts conscien- 
tiously, from a sincere conviction of duty, a just 
world giyes credit for his motives, and describes his 
conduct as generous and noble, whatever may have 



76 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1861. 

been the error of his decision. Judged even by this 
rule, Colonel Lee's adhesion to his native State, on 
her declaration of war, was a noble action, because 
it could not have been determined by any other 
consideration than that of duty, and sacrificed to 
that sense the meaner questions of fortune.* 

He has been charged with having influenced other 
Southern men to leave the United States Army, but 
nothing can be further from the truth than this as- 
sertion. One of his old comrades in the United 
States service writes : " Immediately upon the elec- 
tion of Mr. Lincohi, I wrote in the confidence of 
our long friendship, to ask his advice, and to inquire 
wliat would be his course, without eUciting any 
reply, and we all remarked, that, great as we had 
ever found his reticence in expressing himself upon 
all matters connected with the Government, and 
punctilious as had been his observance of every 
duty connected with his commission, it was even 
more noticeable at this crisis." 

In the address delivered in Richmond, IN'ovember 
3d, 1870, by Mr. Jefferson Davis, he mentions an 
incident which further illustrates the extreme deli- 
cacy and nice sense of honor which distinguished 
Robert E. Lee. Mr. Davis says : " While stationed 
in Baltimore as captain of engineers, the Cuban 
Junta selected Captain Lee to be their leader in the 
struggle for the independence of their native coun- 

• * Lpe and Mx Lit'utrnanf.'i. 



1861.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 77 

try. They were anxious to secure liis services, and 
offered him every temptation that ambition could 
desire. He thought the matter over, and came to 
Washington to consult me as to what he should 
do ; and when I began to discuss the complications 
which might arise from his acceptance of the trust, 
he gently rebuked me, saying that this was not the 
line upon which he wished my advice ; the simple 
question was ' whether it was right or not ' ? He 
had been educated by the United States, and felt it 
wrong to accept a place in the army of a foreign 
jDOwer. But when Virginia withdrew, the State to 
which he owed his first and last allegiance, the 
same nice sense of honor led him to draw his 
sword and throw it in the scale for good or for 
evil." 



78 



A POPULAR LIFE OF 



[1861. 



CHAPTER YI. 



Lee in Richmond — Appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Vir- 
ginia Forces — Presented to the Virginia Convention — Address 
of President Janney — Organization of an Army — Appointed 
General in the Confederate Service — Ordered to Western Vir- 
ginia. 

f^ liEAT joy was felt in Richmond when it was 
^^ known that Colonel Lee had given his name 
and military talents to the cause of Virginia. Im- 
mediately upon his arrival, the Governor nominated 
him as Major-General, with the command of the 
forces already organized in Virginia, and the State 
Convention unanimously confirmed the nomination. 

On the 23d 



of April, Gen- 
eral Lee was 
presented to 
the Convention 
by the chair- 
man of the Mil- 
itary commit- 
tee. The cer- 
emony took 
place in the 
main hall of 
the c a X-> i t o 1. 
The hall was 
crowded with 




Gen. Leh Receited bt the VrR&i?nA CoirrENTioK 



1861.] GENERAL ROBERT F. LEE. 79 

an audience eager to see the man to whom Virginia 
had thus intrusted her destinies. All the members 
of the Convention rose as he advanced to the centre 
of the main aisle. 

The president of the Convention, Mr. Janney, 
then addressed the new Commander-in-Chief, 
Major-General Lee. 

"In the name of the people of our native State, 
here represented, I bid you a cordial and heart- 
felt welcome to this hall, in which we may almost 
hear the echoes of the voices of the statesmen, the 
soldiers, and sages of by-gone days, who have 
borne your name, and whose blood now flows in 
your veins. 

" We met in the month of February last, charged 
with the solemn duty of protecting the rights, the 
honor, and the interests of the people of this Com- 
monwealth. 

" We differed for a time as to the best means of 
accomplishing that object, but there never was, at 
any moment, a shade of diflerence among us as to 
the great object itself; and now, Virginia having 
taken her position, so far as the power of this Con- 
vention extends, we stand animated by one impulse, 
governed by one desire and one determination, and 
that is, that she shall be defended, and that no spot 
of her soil shall be polluted by the foot of an in- 
vader. 

"When the necessity became apparent of having 
a leader for our forces, all hearts and all eyes, by 
the impulse of an instinct, which is a surer guide 



80 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1861. 

than reason itself, turned to the old county of West- 
moreland. "We knew how prolific she had been in 
other days of heroes and statesmen. We knew she 
had given birth to the father of his country, to 
Richard Henry Lee, to Monroe, and last, though 
not least, to your own gallant father, and we knew 
well, by your deeds, that her productive power was 
not yet exhausted. 

^' Sir, we watched with the most profound and 
intense interest the triumphal march of the army 
led by General Scott, to which you were attached, 
from Yera Cruz to the capital of Mexico. We 
read of the sanguinary conflicts, and the blood- 
stained fields, in all of which victory perched upon 
our own banners. We knew of the unfading lustre 
that was shed upon the American arms by that 
campaign, and we know, also, what your modesty 
has always disclaimed, that no small share of the 
glory of those achievements was due to your valor 
and your military genius. 

" Sir, one of the proudest recollections of my life 
will be the honor that I yesterday had of submit- 
ting to this body the confirmation of the nomination, 
made by the Governor of this State, of you as 
Commander-in-Chief of the military and naval 
forces of this Commonwealth. I rose to put the 
question; and when I asked if* this body would 
advise and consent to that appointment, there 
rushed from the hearts to the tongues of all the 
members an afiirmative response, which told, with 
an emphasis that could leave no doubt, of the feel- 
ing whence it emanated. I put the negative of the 



1861.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 81 

question for form's sake, but there was an unbroken 
silence. 

" Sir, we have by this unanimous vote expressed 
our convictions that you are at this day, among the 
living citizens of Virginia, * first in war.' We pray 
to God most fervently that you may so conduct the 
operations committed to your charge that it may 
soon be said of you that you are ' first in peace ; ' 
and when that time comes, you will have earned 
the still prouder distinction of being ^ first in the 
hearts of your countrymen.' 

"Yesterday, your mother, Virginia, placed her 
sword in your hand, upon the implied condition, 
that we know you will keep to the letter and in 
spirit, that you will draw it only in defence, and 
that you will fall with it in your hand rather than 
the object for which it was placed there shall fail." 

To this. General Lee made this short and simple 
reply : 

" Mr. President and gentlemen of the Convention : 
Profoundly impressed with the solemnity of the 
occasion, for which I must say I Avas not prepared, 
I accept the position assigned me by your partiality. 
I would have much preferred your choice had fallen 
upon an abler man. Trusting in Almighty God, 
an approving conscience, and the aid of my fellow- 
citizens, I devote mj^self to the service of my native 
State, in whose behalf alone will I ever again draw 
my sword." 

General Lee was at this time in the prime and 

F 



82 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1861. 

vigor of manhood,* — his figure finely shaped and 
firmly knit, his face of remarkable beauty, and 
lighted by dark eyes, as expressive of intellect as 
of gentleness and benignity. Ko one could look 
upon him without admiration, — no one know him 
without loving and respecting him. 

His manners were graceful, and habitually grave 
and dignified, though on proper occasions kind and 
even playful. His modest}' was always conspicuous, 
yet there shone about him a just consciousness of 
power, purpose, and position. 

General Lee at once set himself to work to or- 
ganize the State forces, and to put the country in a 
condition of defence. 

Each day brought men from every part of Vir- 
ginia, and from the different States of the South. f 

About thirt}^ thousand men were, in the early part 
of May, collected in Virginia. To organize and 
distribute these wherever the movements of the 
enemy might demand their presence, was the 
weighty task of the new commander. 

He performed an incredible amount of labor, 
looking into the most minute details, and, as one of 
his biographers says, " made the reputation of a 

* He was fifty-three years of age. 

f The nucleus of that army, which, a celebrated Northern his- 
torian says, "stimulated by State pride and home love, which, in 
addition to the Confederate sentiment, animated those vast quotas 
of admirable soldiers whom Virginia poured forth unstintingly, 
filling up the gaps till all were gone." 



1861.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 83 

skilful organizer of armies before lie commenced 
the career of active commander in the field." 

After the assembling of the Confederate Con- 
gress in Richmond, July, 1861, General Lee was 
made a full General in the Confederate service, 
ranking next to General Albert Sydney Johnston ; 
the list being, — Cooper, Albert Sydney Johnston, 
Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, and Beauregard. In the 
following month, he was ordered to take command 
of the forces in Western Virginia, a difficult and 
disagreeable field of service, which he cheerfully 
undertook, in accordance with the feeling which 
influenced him when he declared, " I am ready to 
take any position the country assigns to me, and do 
the best I can." 

This was the secret of his successes : he always 
did ^' his best," thinking nothing which he under- 
took too small to be done faithfully. 



84 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1861. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Gloucester Point — Great Bethel — Manassas — Letter to his 
Family — Campaign in Western Virginia — Causes of Failure 
— His Magnanimous Silence — Services on the Sea-Coast — 
Letters to his Daughters — Assigned to Duty at the Seat of 
Government. 

BEFORE entering upon the account of General 
Lee's campaign in Western Virginia, a brief 
survey of the progress of the war in other parts 
of the State will be necessary. It has been re- 
marked upon as a curious coincidence that almost 
the first gun fired in Virginia, was at Gloucester 
Point,. opposite Yorktown, which is memorable as 
the spot where the war of the Revolution ended. 

The first real engagement took place at Great 
Bethel, on the 10th of June. The Confederate 
troops, consisting of eighteen hundred infantry and 
six pieces of artillery, under Colonel Magruder, 
successfully opposed a Federal force of about four 
thousand men, with powerful artillery, under Gen- 
eral Butler. 

The former occupied an imperfectly intrenched 
position, between Yorktown and Hampton, and the 
Federal forces advanced upon them from Fortress 
Monroe. This battle, though insignificant as re- 
gards the number of troops engaged, was of great 
importance to the Confederates, as in case of defeat 



1861.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 85 

a way would have been opened to Richmond over 
the Peninsula. It Vv^as also a source of great en- 
couragement to the South, as it showed the pos- 
sibility of coping successfully Avith unequal num- 
bers, a disadvantage that from the great strength 
of the ^orth they had always reason to expect. 

Soon followed the greater victory at Manassas, 
where the main body of both armies was massed, 
in the latter part of July. The " Grand Army " 
was completely routed, and panic and confusion 
marked its disorderly retreat to the sheltering 
banks of the Potomac. It was a moment of su- 
preme joy and triumph to the South, and proved to 
the world her determination and her prowess. It 
was a victory gained over lifty-iive thousand by an 
army not much over thirty-one thousand, which, as 
one of the E"orthern historians * candidly admits, 
was " inferior in arms, equipments, and means of 
transportation." 

Here it was that Jackson's command won its 
name of the ^' Stonewall Brigade." The deter- 
mined stand of his two thousand men turned the 
fortunes of the day. Bee, approaching Jackson 
and pointing to the remnants of his command and 
the shattered remains of Barton and Evans huddled 
together in the woods, exclaimed : '' General, they 
are beating us back." " Sir, we '11 give them the 
bayonet," replied Jackson ; and Bee, rushing back 

*Swinton. 
8 



86 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1861. 

to liis troops, rallied them with the words : " There 
is Jackson, standing like a stone wall; let us determine 
to die here, and we will conquer." And Bee fell 
mortally wounded, holding in his hand the sword 
which South Carolina had presented him. 

General Lee thus writes of this victory to one of 
his family : 

" EiCHMOND, 27th July, 1861. 

" I have received, dear M , your letter from 

E Yiew, and am glad your visit has been so 

agreeable That indeed was a glorious vic- 
tory, and has lightened the pressure upon our front 
amazingly. Do not grieve for the brave dead. 
Sorrow for those they left behind, friends, relatives, 
and families. The former are at rest, the latter 
must suffer. The battle will be repeated there in 
greater force. I hope God will again smile upon 
us, and strengthen our hearts and arms. 

" I wished to partake in the former struggle, but 
the President thought it more important I should 
be here. I could not have done as well, but could 
have helped, and taken part in the struggle for 
my home and neighborhood. So the work is done, 
I care not by whom it is done. I leave to-morrow 
for the new^ army. I wished to go before, as I 
wrote you, and was all prepared, but the indications 
were so evident of the coming battle, and in the 
uncertainty of the result the President forbade my 
departure. ISTow it is necessary, and he consents. I 

inclose a letter from M . Write to her if you can, 

and thank her, for I have not time. Every moment 



1861.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 87 

is occupied, and all my thoughts and strength are 
given to the cause to which my life, be it long or 
short, will be devoted." 

Already in Western Virginia, on the 3d of June, 
a small force of seven hundred men, under Colonel 
Porteriield, sent out by General Lee, had suffered 
a repulse at Philippi, a prelude to the disaster soon 
to follow. 

General Lee immediately sent a reinforcement 
of about 6,000 men, under General Garnet, who 
had served as his Adjutant-General during the 
first weeks of the war. This little band was forced 
to contend against fourfold numbers. On the 11th 
of July, having unfortunately divided, Colonel John 
Pegram, the second in conmiand, holding Rich 
Mountain, and General Garnet with the main force 
remaining at Laurel Hill, they were attacked by two 
columns of the enemy. After a vigorous defence, 
Colonel Pegram fell back from Rich Mountain, 
losing many of his men, who fell into the hands of 
the enemy. 

General Garnet, attempting also to fall back after 
hearing of this reverse, was pursued by McClellan, 
and while gallantly striving to rally his rear guard, 
was killed. Five hundred of his men were taken 
prisoners. 

At this crisis, General Lee went to take com- 
mand of the remnant of Garnet's army. 

A series of skirmishes took place during the 



88 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1861. 

moiitlis of August and September, witli no impor- 
tant result. 

In one of these, Colonel John A. Washington, of 
Mount Vernon, was killed. He was acting as Gen- 
eral Lee's Aid-de-camp, and venturing incautiously 
in advance of the column, was shot, and, foiling 
from his horse, died instantly. 

Finally, General Lee united with his own the 
forces of Generals Floyd and Wise in the Kanawha 
Valley, and concentrated at Sewell Mountain an 
army of 15,000 men. 

It was hoped that a battle would now take place 
to bring to a successful issue this desultory and in- 
active campaign. But after nearly two weeks had 
elapsed, during which each waited for the other to 
attack, it was discovered, one morning, that Rose- 
crans had disappeared, retreating to his former po- 
sition on Gauley River. The state of the roads and 
streams made it impossible for General Lee to fol- 
low him with any hope of an active pursuit. Win- 
ter was coming on, and it was decided to leave this 
part of the country in the hands of the enemy, and 
remove the forces to another and more important 
field. 

General Lee returned to Richmond in ITovember, 
and the failure of this campaign was the occasion 
of severe comment by the over-sanguine South- 
erners. 

Like Washington, before Boston in 1776, he 



1861.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 89 

miglit have said, ''I know tlie unhappy predica- 
ment I stand in. I know that much is expected of 
me ; " but, like "Washington, he was ready to sacri- 
fice his reputation rather than waste the lives of his 
men in the vain attempt to hold a hostile country. 

When we take into consideration the obstacles 
against which he contended, the hostile character 
of the inhabitants, who betrayed his every move- 
ment to the enemy, the difficulties of transportation 
in so rough a country, — having no access to a rail- 
road or navigable river, while the enemy had two 
railroads uniting at Grafton, enabling them to ad- 
vance or retreat with equal facility, — we are at no 
loss to account for this failure. 

^' He came back," says Mr. Davis, '' carrying the 
heavy weight of defeat, and unappreciated by the 
people whom he served ; for they could not know, 
as I knew, that if his plans and orders had been 
carried out, the result would have been victory 
rather than retreat. They did not know it; for I 
would not have known, it, if he had not breathed it 
in my ear only at my earnest request, and begging 
that nothing be said about it. The clamor which 
then arose followed him when he went to South 
Carolina, so that it became necessary to write a 
letter to the Governor of that State, telling him 
what manner of man he was. Yet through all this, 
with a magnanimity rarely equalled, he stood in 
silence, without defending himself, or allowing 
8* 



90 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1861. 

others to defend him; for he was unwilling to 
offend any one who was wearing a sword and 
striking blows for the Confederacy." 

General Lee was now put in charge of the coast 
defences of Georgia and South Carolina. His duty 
consisted in superintending the construction of 
fortifications for the important defence of the 
coast line. His work was admirably performed, 
and in this department he won new popularity and 
esteem. 

From the coast he thus writes to one of his 
daughters : 

" CoosAWHATCHiE, S. C, 25th December, 1861. 

" My dear Daughter: — Having distributed such 
poor Christmas gifts as I had to those around me, 
I have been looking for something for you. Trifles 
even are hard to get these war times, and you must 
not therefore expect more. I have sent you what 
I thought most useful in your separation from me, 
and hope it will be of some service. Though 
stigmatized as ' vile dross,' it has never been a 
drug with me. That you may never want for it, 
restrict your wants to your necessities. To com- 
pensate for such ' trash,' I send you some sweet 
violets, that I gathered for you this morning while 
covered with dense white frost, whose crystals glit- 
tered in the bright sun like diamonds, and formed 
a brooch of rare beauty and sweetness which could 
not be fabricated by the expenditure of a world of 



1861.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 91 

money. Yet how little will it purchase. But see 
how God provides for our pleasure in every way. 
May he guard and preserve you for me, my dear 
daughter. Among the calamities of war, the hard- 
est to hear, perhaps, is the separation of families 
and friends. Yet all must be endured to accom- 
plish our independence, and maintain our self- 
government. In my absence from you, I have 
thought of you very often, and regretted I could 
do nothing for your comfort. Your old home, if 
not destroyed by our enemies, has been so dese- 
crated that I cannot bear to think of it. I should* 
have preferred it to have been wiped from the 
earth, its beautiful hill sunk, and its sacred trees 
buried, rather than to have been degraded by the 
presence of those who revel in the ill they do for 
their own selfish purposes. You see what a poor 
sinner I am, and how unworthy to possess what 
was given me ; for that reason it has been taken 
away. I pray for a better spirit, and that the hearts 
of our enemies may be changed. In your house- 
less condition, I hope you make yourself contented 
and useful. Occupy yourself in aiding those more 
helpless than yourself. .... Think always of 
your father, R. E. Lee." 

A letter to another daughter on attaining her 
sixteenth birthday, breathes the same tender and 
affectionate spirit. 

"Savannah, 26th February, 1862. 

*' And are you really sweet sixteen ? That is 
charming, and I want to see 3^ou more than ever. 



92 APOPULARLIFEOF [1862. 

But when that will be, my darling child, I have no 
idea. I hope after the war is over we may again 
all he united, and I may have some pleasant years 
with my dear children, that they may cheer the 
remnant of my days. I am very glad to hear that 
you are progressing so well in your studies, and 
that your reports are so favorable. Your mother 
wrote me about them. You must continue to do 
likewise to the end of the session, when I hope you 
will be able to join your mother. It has been a 
long time since I have seen you, and you must have 
grown a great deal. Rob says he is told that you 
are a young woman. I have grown so old, and be- 
come so changed, that you would not know me. 
But I love you just as much as ever, and you know 
how great a love that is. You must remember me 

to the P s, your cousin M , Mrs. B , the 

C s, &c., and tell them how obliged I am for 

their kindness to you. I hope you appreciate it, 
and that your manners and conduct are so well 
regulated as to make your presence and company 
agreeable to them. 

" I hope you will be admired and loved by all 
my friends, and acquire the friendship of all the 
good and virtuous. 

" I am glad S agrees with you so well. You 

know it is considered vulgar for young ladies to 
eat, which I suppose is the cause of your abstinence. 
But do not carry it too far, for you know I do not 
admire young women who are too thin. 

"■ Wlio is so imprudent in Clarke as to get mar- 
ried ? I did not think in these days of serious 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 93 

occiirrcucGs that any one would engage in such 
trivial amusements. 

" This is a serious period, indeed, and the time 
looks dark, but it will brighten again, and I hope 
a kind Providence will yet smile upon us, and give 
us freedom and independence. 

" These reverses were necessary to make us brace 
ourselves for the work before us. We were getting 
careless and confident, and required correction. 
You must do all you can for our dear country. 
Pray for the aid of our Father in heaven, for our 
sufi:ering soldiers and their distressed families. I 
pray day and night for you. May Almighty God 
guide, guard, and protect you ! I have but little 
time to write, my dear daughter. You must excuse 
my short and dull letters. Write me when you can, 
and love always your devoted father, 

"R. E. Lee." 

It was finally decided to recall General Lee to 
Hichmbnd, with the new appointment of Command- 
ing General, to take in charge the entire military 
preparations of the country. 

The following order assigned him to this duty : 

" War Department, 

Adjutant and Inspector General's Office, 

KiCHMOND, March 13th, 1862. 

" General Orders, Ko. 14. 

" General Robert E. Lee is assigned to duty at 
the seat of government, and, under the direction of 



94 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

the President, is charged with the conduct of mili- 
tary operations in the armies of the Confederacy. 
" By command of the Secretary of War, 
S. Cooper, 
Adjutant and Inspector General." 

General Lee entered immediately upon these 
duties, but was only retained in this position a few 
months, — a new and more active field awaited him. 
While in Richmond he worked day and night 
upon the tasks assigned him, and the lines about 
Kichmond showed the effect of his immense labor — 
earth-works rose on every side, crowning her seven 
hills. Batteries, rifle-pits, redoubts, &c., were to be 
seen in every direction ; the military situation soon 
assumed a better aspect. 

General Lee's modesty, always conspicuous, seemed 
to increase with every step he made to power and 
responsibility, while the courtesy and simplicity 
which marked his intercourse with strangers, as 
with officials, won for him the affection which he 
well deserved. 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 95 



CHAPTER YIII. 

Reorganization of the Army — The Peninsular Campaign — Battle 
of Seven Pines — Johnston Wounded — General Lee takes Com- 
mand — Jackson's Valley Campaign — " Stuart's Ride " — Gen- 
eral Orders — Jackson's Mysterious March — Mechanicsville. 

rriHE affairs of the Confederacy, at this period, 
-^ were not in as favorable a condition as might 
have been expected, in view of the fact that the 
Southern army had just gained the splendid victory 
of Manassas. Victory had been in a measure dis- 
astrous, as it inspired an undue confidence. It was 
believed by the flushed and victorious Southrons 
that a recognition of the Confederate States by the 
European Powers was certain, and a speedy peace 
at hand. 

Wliile the active spirit of the ]N"orth multiplied 
its armies, and brought out its wonderful resources, 
the South indulged in dreams of confidence, and 
the three-months' men went home to repose upon 
their laurels. 

The reorganization of the army in December, 
1861, was conducted in such a manner as to 
weaken rather than increase its efficiency. Con- 
gress had passed an act by which the men could 
change from one arm of the service to another at 
their own option, and also elect their own officers. 



96 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

Tlie soldiers claimed, too, their riglit to leave the 
arm}' at the expiration of the one year for which 
they had enlisted. 

It was then found necessary to pass the Conscrip- 
tion Act, which rigorous measure, though causing 
great discontent, had the desired effect of placing 
the army in a more favorahle condition to meet the 
enemy. 

It was felt that in Virginia the decisive struggle 
would take place. The Border States of Kentucky 
and Missouri had resisted gallantly at first, but 
being without effectual means of defence, were 
gradually occupied by the Federal troops. New 
Orleans had fallen, and the whole of the coast, 
pressed by the Federal fleet, without ships, and 
with but few forts to oppose them, was slowly yield- 
ing to the enemy's attacks. 

A large army commanded by General McClellan, 
who had won great reputation from his successes 
in Western Virginia, threatened Eichmond. The 
armies of Fremont, Banks, and McDowell were 
marching from the North and West upon the cap- 
ital—in all not less than 200,000 men. 

General Joseph E. Johnston, who in March had 
evacuated Manassas, going to the aid of Magruder, 
on the Peninsula, now commanded the Confed- 
erate forces defending Eichmond. 

On the last day of May, he advanced upon thtf 
Federal Hues, intrenched on the Chickahominy, 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 97 

and a farioas struggle ensued. This engagement 
was known as the battle of Seven Pines. - McClellan 
was forced to fall back, and the Confederates re- 
mained in possession of the enemy's works. A 
Federal soldier, writing to a Northern paper, says 
of the Confederate troops : '' Our shot tore their 
ranks wide open, and shattered them asunder in a 
manner that was frightful to witness; but they 
closed up at once, and came on as steadily as Eng- 
lish veterans.^' 

On the left, at Fair Oaks Station, the Confederates 
in turn were repulsed ; and here General Johnston 
was severely wounded by a fragment of shell. 
General Lee was immediately sent from Richmond 
to take command of his army. Jackson in the 
meanwhile was about to bring to a successful close 
his famous valley campaign, and thus relieve Rich- 
mond of any danger from that quarter. The three 
Northern generals who opposed him, Fremont, 
Banks, and McDowell, were either routed or ren- 
dered powerless. 

The victory of Port Republic on the 9th of June, 
one of the most brilliant of the war, enabled Jack- 
son to march his army on to a junction with Lee, 
and become his " right arm," as he called him, in 
his future campaigns. 

Before commencing the battles of the Seven 
Days, General Lee, in order to learn something 
more definite of the position and strength of his 



98 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

opponents, ordered General Stuart to undertake a 
reconnoissance in the rear of the enemy's lines. 

On the 12th of June, Stuart made his famous 
"ride around McClellan," with a force of 1,500 
men, officered by Colonels William H. Lee, Fitz 
Hugh Lee, Lieutenant- Colonel Martin, Captain 
Latane, and other officers afterwards to become 
known to fame. He gained most important infor- 
mation, took many prisoners, and inflicted damage 
to the amount of seven millions of dollars ; and all 
this with the loss of but one man, the gallant 
Captain Latane. This has been truly considered 
" one of the most brilliant feats ever performed by 
any cavalry." 

The following general order was issued upon the 
return of Stuart's forces : 

"Headquarters Department of Northern Virginia, 

June 23d, 1862. 
" General Orders, No. 74. 

*' The General commanding announces with great 
satisfaction to the army the brilliant exploit of Bri- 
gadier-General J. E. B. Stuart, with a part of the 
troops under his command. This gallant officer, 
with portions of the First, Fourth, and Mnth Vir- 
ginia Cavalry, a part of the Jeff. Davis Legion, with 
whom were the Boykin Rangers, and a section of 
the Stuart horse-artillery, on the 13th, 14th, and 15th 
of June, made a reconnoissance between the Pa- 
munkey and the Chickahominy rivers, and succeeded 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 99 

in passing around the rear of the whole Federal 
army, routing the enemy in a series of skirmishes, 
taking a number of prisoners, and destroying and 
capturing stores to a large amount. Having most 
successfully accomplished the object of the expedi- 
tion, he recrossed the Chickahominy almost in the 
presence of the enemy, with the same coolness and 
address that marked every step of his progress, and 
with the loss of but one man, the lamented Captain 
Latane, of the Mnth Virginia Cavalry, who fell 
bravely leading a successful charge against a supe- 
rior force of the enemy. 

" In announcing this signal success to the army, 
the General commanding takes great pleasure in ex- 
pressing his admiration of the courage and skill so 
conspicuously exhibited throughout by the general 
and the officers and men under his command. 

" In addition to the officers honorably mentioned 
in the report of the expedition, the conduct of the 
following privates has received the special com- 
mendation of their commanders : Privates Thomas 
J). Clapp, Compan}' D, First Virginia Cavalry, and 
J. S. Mosby,* serving with the same regiment; 
Privates Ashton, Brent, P. Herring, F. Herring, and 
F. Coleman, Company E, Mnth Virginia Cavalry. 
" By command of General Lee, 

R H. Chilton, A. A. General." 

On the morning of the 26th of June, General Lee 
was prepared for a general advance. His orders 

* This private, J. S. Mosby, was afterwards to become famous 
as Colonel Mosbj, tlie partisan leader. 



100 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

for the attack are given to show witli what precision 
tliey were carried out in the conduct of the battle 
that followed. 

" Headquarters Army of Northern^ Virginia, 

June 24th, 1862. 

*' General Orders 'No. 75. 

" I. General Jackson's command will proceed to- 
morrow from Ashland towards the Slash Church, 
and encamp at some convenient point west of 
the Central Railroad. Branch's Brigade, of A. 
P. Hill's division, w^ill also, to-morrow evening, 
take position on the Chickahominy, near Half 
Sink. At three o'clock on Thursday morning, 
26th instant. General Jackson will advance on 
the road leading to Pale Green Church, communi- 
cating his march to General Branch, who will im- 
mediately cross the Chickahominy, and take the 
road leading to Mechanicsville. As soon as the 
movements of these columns are discovered, Gen- 
eral A. P. Hill, with the rest of his division, will 
cross the Chickahominy near Meadow Bridge, and 
move direct upon Mechanicsville. To aid his ad- 
vance, the heavy batteries on the Chickahominy 
will, at the proper time, open upon the batteries at 
Mechanicsville. The enemy being driven from 
Mechanicsville, and the passage across the bridge 
opened. General Longstreet, with his division and 
that of General D. H. Hill, will cross the Chicka- 
hominy at or near that point; and General D. H. 
Hill moving to the support of General Jackson, 
and General Longstreet supporting General A. P. 
Hill, the four divisions keeping in communication 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E.LEE. 101 

witli each other, and moving in echelon on separate 
roads, if practicable. The left division in advance, 
with skirmishers and sharpshooters extending' in 
their front, will sweep down the Chickahominy and 
endeavor to drive the enemy from his position above 
New Bridge, General Jackson, bearing well to his 
left, turning Beaver Dam Creek, and taking the 
direction toward Cold Harbor. They will then 
press forward toward York River Railroad, closing 
upon the enemy's rear and forcing him down the 
Chickahominy. Any advance of the enemy toward 
Richmond will be prevented by vigorously follow- 
ing his rear, crippling and arresting his progress. 

" II. The divisions under Generals Huger and 
Magruder will hold their positions in front of the 
enemy against attack, and make such demonstra- 
tions, Thursday, as to discover his operations. 
Should opportunity offer, the feint will be con- 
verted into a real attack ; and should an abandon- 
ment of his intrenchments by the enemy be dis- 
covered, he will be closely pursued. 

" III. The Third Virginia Cavalry will observe 
the Charles City road. The Fifth Virginia, the First 
North Carolina, and the Hampton Legion Cavalry, 
will observe the Darbytown, Varina, and Osborne 
roads. Should a movement of the enemy, down 
the Chickahominy, be discovered, they will close 
upon his flank and endeavor to arrest his march. 

^^IV. General Stuart, with the First, Fourth, 
and Ninth Virginia Cavahw, the cavalry of Cobb's 
Legion and the Jefl:" Davis Legion, will cross the 
Chickahominy to-morrow, and take position to the 



102 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

left of General Jackson's line of march. The main 
body will be held in reserve, with scouts well ex- 
tended to the front and left. General Stuart will 
keep General Jackson informed of the movements 
of the enemy on his left, and will co-operate with 
him in his advance. The Sixteenth Virginia Cav- 
alry, Colonel Davis, will remain on the 'Nine Mile 
road. 

" v. General Ransom's brigade, of General 
Holmes's command, will be placed in reserve on 
the Ayilliamsburg road by General Huger, to whom 
he will report for orders. 

'' VI. Commanders of divisions will cause their 
commands to be provided with three days' cooked 
rations. The necessary ambulances and ordnance 
trains will be ready to accompany the divisions, and 
receive orders from their respective commanders. 
Officers in charge of all trains will invariably re- 
main with them. Batteries and wagons will keep 
on the right of the road. The Chief Engineer, 
Major Stevens, will assign engineer officers to each 
division, whose duty it will be to make provision 
for overcoming all difficulties to the progress of the 
troops. The staff departments will give the neces- 
sary instructions to facilitate the movements herein 
directed. 

'' By command of General Lee, 

R. H. Chilton, 

A. A. General." 

General Lee wrote to the Secretary of War, say- 
ing that he might be beyond a certain designated 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 103 

point where couriers could find liim should " any- 
thing of importance occur." This was the only 
hint given of what he was about to do : so careful 
was he lest news of the intended movement should 
reach the enemy beforehand. Thus practising the 
maxim of his great Lieutenant, who often said, 
" mystery is the secret of success," and who had 
given practical illustration of its truth. 

According to General Lee's instructions, Jackson 
with his whole command had marched secretly 
from the Valley, moving so rapidly, that, leaving 
Port Republic on the 17th, he reached Ashland on 
the 25th. This was effected with such skill, that 
neither General McClellan nor any of the Federal 
commanders in the Valley suspected the movement. 
General Lee only waited for Jackson's arrival. Be- 
ing delayed longer than was expected. General A. 
P. Hill's impatience could not be restrained. Gen- 
eral Lee gave the order to commence, and General 
Hill left his camps and moved on to Mechanicsville, 
where the Federals were intrenched, guarding the 
bridge. General Hill attacked with his usual im- 
petuosity; Fields's brigade, with Pegram's Battery, 
after a sharp encounter, drove the enemy from Me- 
chanicsville, thus opening the way for Longstreet 
and D. H. Hill to cross. But the principal strength 
of the Federals was massed a mile back of the town, 
at Beaver Dam Creek. Here Hill's forces en- 
countered a most destructive fire, directly in the 



104 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

face and on the flank. The troops, after several 
attempts to dislodge the enemy, were forced to 
withdraw. The battle lasted from three in the 
afternoon till nine at nisrht. The Confederates 
slept upon the field which they had won, while 
Porter's corps, of the United States army, occupied 
the steep bank of the creek, from which they had 
successfully resisted the further advance of the 
Confederates; and thus ended the "battle of Me- 
chanics ville," the first of the " seven days' fight " 
around Richmond. 



CHAPTER IX. 



The Eve of Battle — Meeting of Lee and Jackson — Cold Harbor 
— The Charge of the Texas Brigade — General Lee's Despatch. 







I^ the morning of the 27th, Jackson's arrival 
was still anxiously looked for. The great 



stru2:2:le was at hand. 



'&& 



" General Lee ha^dng taken up his headquarters 
at a house on Hogan's plantation, awaited quietly 
the moment when his word of command would join 
the most important battle of the war. It was past 
noon. The columns of Hill and Longstreet halted 
in the open ground to await the arrival of Jackson's 
right at New Cold Harbor. General Lee, quiet and 
serious, sat alone in the rear portico of Hogan'a 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. EEE. 105 

house. A crowd of military dignitaries were gath- 
ered in council upon the front door-steps and on 
the grassy sward. A low and eager conversation 
was kept up among them, while the great com- 
mander sat alone in thoughtful attitude, liis fine, 
calm, open countenance serious in its expression, 
but without any line or shadow upon it of weak 
anxiety or irresolution. Presently a courier dashes 
up, and delivers a paper to General Lee. As the 
commander mounts his horse it is understood that 
Jackson is at hand, and that the time for action has 
come. " * 

About noon, A. P. Hill, who was in the advance, 
reached Cold Harbor, and immediately advanced 
his division to the attack. In his official report, 
General Lee states that " many of these men had 
never been under fire till the previous day ; " yet 
they attacked the enemy in his strong position and 
drove him from it, though with heavy loss from the 
fire of McClellan's artillery. The battle raged 
fiercely with varying fortunes fOr two hours. Gen- 
eral Lee sent Longstreet to make a diversion in favor 
of the attacking columns, and orders for a generaJ 
advance were given. At this moment, amid the 
roar of guns, loud cheers were heard, and the cry 
of "Jackson! Jackson!" rang; alono- the lines "in 
a shout so wild and triumphant," says one who was 
present, "that it rolled across the woods and reached 
the ears of the Federal army." This soldier, who 

*Pol]ar.i: Lost Cause. 



106 



A POPULAR LIFE OF 



[1862. 



is also a writer, describes * this, the first meeting 
between Lee and Jackson. 

" Jackson was riding a raw-boned sorrel, with 
his knees drawn up by the short stirrups, his eyes 




Meeting between Lee and Jackson. 

peering out from beneath the low rim of his padded 
cap ; there was absolutely nothing about him, save 
the dingy stars on his collar, to indicate his rank. 
Lee, on the contrary, was clad in a neat uniform, 
without decorations, rode an excellent and carefull j 
groomed horse, and every detail of his person, every 

* Hammer and Rapier. 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 107 

movement of the erect and graceful figure of the 
most stately cavalier in the Southern army, revealed 
his elevated character, the consciousness of com- 
mand, a species of moral and official ' grandeur,' 
both of which it was impossible to mistake. The 
Almighty had made both these human beings truly 
great ; to only one of them had He given the ad- 
ditional grace of looking great. 

" ' Ah, General ! ' said Lee, grasping Jackson's 
hand, ^ I am very glad to see you : I hoped to have 
been with you before.' 

" Jackson saluted, and returned the pressure of 
that hand, of whose owner he said, ' He is a phe- 
nomenon ; he is the only man I would follow blind- 
fold I ' 

" General Lee then looked with anxiety in the 
direction of the firing on the left. 

" ' That fire is very heavy,' he said, in his deep 
voice. ' Do you think your men can stand it, Gen- 
eral ? ' 

"Jackson turned his head quickly, listened for 
an instant, and then replied, in the curt tones so 
familiar to all who knew him : 

" ^ They can stand almost anything. General. 
They can stand that!' Ten minutes after uttering 
these words, Jackson saluted his commander, put 
spur to his raw-boned horse, and went at full speed 
to rejoin his corps, which, in his own words, had 
' closed in upon the front and rear of the enemy, 
and was pressing forward.' Lee remained at the 
centre. There he was ready to deliver his great 
blow." 



108 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

About sunset he ordered an advance along the 
whole line; and from that moment the battle raged 
with unsurpassed furj, the enemy making a des- 
perate resistance. Hood's Texans made a bold and 
impetuous assault upon the fortified crest on the 
enemy's left, and carried it at the point of the 
bayonet. Jackson, looking at it afterwards, ex- 
claimed, " The men who carried this position were 
soldiers indeed ! " 

Hood's charge is thus described by an eye-wit- 
ness : 

" In front of us was the ^ old third brigade,' who, 
but a few moments before, had started with cheers 
to storm the fatal palisade. But the storm of iron 
and lead was too severe; they ' wavered', for a 
moment, and fell upon the ground. At this instant, 
General Hood, who had in person taken command 
of our regiment, commanded, in his clear ringing 
voice, ' Forward, quick, march! ' and onward moved 
the little band of five hundred, with the coolness 
of veterans. Here Colonel Marshall fell dead from 
his horse, pierced by a minie-ball. Volleys of 
musketry, and showers of grape, canister, and shell, 
ploughed through us, but were only answered by 
the stern 'close up — close up to the colors,' and 
onward they rushed over the dead and dying, with- 
out a pause, until within about one hundred yards 
of the breastworks. We had reached the apex of 
the hill, and some of the men, seeing the enemy 
just before them, commenced to discharge their 
pieces. It was at this point that preceding brigades 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 109 

had halted, and beyond which none had gone, in 
consequence of the terrible concentrated fire of the 
concealed enemy. At this critical juncture the 
voice of General Hood was heard above the din of 
battle, 'Forward, forward, charge right down on 
them, and drive them out with the bayonet ! ' Fix- 
ing bayonets as they moved, they made one grand 
rush for the fort ; down the hill, across the creek 
and fallen timber, and the next minute saw our 
battle-flag planted upon the captured breastwork. 
The enemy, frightened at the rapid approach of 
pointed steel, rose up from behind their defences, 
and started up the hill at full speed. One volley 
was poured into their backs, and it seemed that every 
ball found a victim, so great was the slaughter. 
Their works were ours, and as our flag moved from 
the first to the second tier of defences, a shout arose 
from the shattered remnant of that regiment, which 
will long be remembered by those who heard it; a 
shout which announced that the wall of death was 
broken, and victory, which had hovered doubtfully 
for hours over that bloody field, had at length 
perched upon the batt]e-flag of the fourth Texas. 
Right and left it was taken up, and rang along the 
lines for miles, long after many of those who started 
it were in eternity." 

At dark the remnants of General Porter's com- 
mand gave way, and the battle of Cold Harbor 
was over. General McClellan had been driven 
back to the Chickahominy. 

This was one of the most stubborn battles of the 

10 



110 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

war. The Federal army contested every inch of 
ground. But their defeat was complete, and was 
decisive of the campaign. 

The losses in this engagement were seven or eight 
thousand on the Confederate, and six or seven thou- 
sand on the Federal side. 

" With the transfer of the right wing to the south 
side of the Chickahominy, the army of the Potomac 
turned its back upon the Confederate capital, and 
all the high hopes the advance had inspired. It 
was no longer a question of taking Richmond, but 
of making good the retreat to the James, with a 
victorious enemy in the rear." * 

This retreat was accomplished, however, in a 
manner that reflected honor upon the Federal 
General and the army under his command. 

General Lee announced his victory in the follow- 
ing despatch to the President : 

" Headquarters, June 27th, 1862. 
*' His Excellency, President Davis. 

'•'Mr. President: — Profoundly grateful to Al- 
mighty God for the signal victory granted to us, it 
is my pleasing task to announce to you the success 
achieved by this army to-day. 

" The enemy was this morning driven from his 
strong position behind Beaver Dam Creek, and 
pursued to that behind Powhite Creek, and, finally, 
after a severe contest of five hours, entirely repulsed 
from the field. 

* Swinton. 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. Ill 

" Mght put an end to the contest. I grieve to 
state that our loss in oiScers and men is great. 

" We sleep on the field, and shall renew the con- 
test in the morning. 

*' I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

" R. E. Lee, General." 



CHAPTER X. 



McClellan's Retreat — Savage Station — Frazier's Farm — Mal- 
vern Hill — General Order — Results of the Seven Days' Fight- 
ing — McClellan's Letter from Harrison's Landing. 

THE contest w^as not renewed the next day. 
McClellan had withdrawn his weary troops 
during the night to the south side of the river, 
moving rapidly to the James. It was General Lee's 
policy to intercept this march, and capture or de- 
stroy the retreating forces. He was however un- 
certain what McClellan's course would be, in which 
direction he would make his retreat, whether it 
would be by the Peninsula, or whether, uniting his 
forces, he might not turn and give battle on the 
north side of the river. McClellan's plan, how^- 
ever, was different from either of these. His line 
of retreat led across the White Oak Swamp, the 
difficulty of which passage, over roads almost im- 
passable for artillery and wagons, opposed a strong 



112 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

barrier to the attacks made by the pursuing forces. 
The darkness also favored McClellan's movements ; 
and so well had he concealed his designs, that it 
was not until his troops were twenty-four hours on 
the march that the real state of the case was dis- 
covered, — twenty-four hours of immense advantage 
in the execution of his difficult and dangerous 
movement. 

The next morning General Lee put his columns 
in motion. Magruder and Huger were to follow on 
the Williamsburg and Charles City roads, while 
Longstreet and A. P. Hill were to intercept the re- 
treat near the James. 

The divisions of Magruder and McLaws, pushing 
forward on the Williamsburg road, encountered 
Sumner's Corps, which constituted the rear-guard 
of the Federal army, at Savage Station, on the York 
Eiver. Magruder attacked with his usual prompt- 
ness. Sumner held his ground until darkness put 
an end to the contest, and that night he crossed the 
White Oak Swamp, destro}dng the bridges behind 
him. This engagement, fought on the afternoon of 
the 29th, is known as the Battle of Savage Station. 

The retreat of McClellan's army through the 
wearisome morass, under the scorching June sun, 
was conducted mth a vigor and ability that com- 
manded the admiration of their opponents. 

Their sufferings were great, many fell exhausted 
by the heat and hunger, casting away all save their 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 113 

arms that could impede their progress, and rising 
again after a brief uneasy rest to pursue their toil- 
some march. 

The beleaguered city had no longer anything to 
fear from them, and she owed her great deliverance 
to the valor and skill of Lee. 

At Frazier's Farm another battle was fought by 
the retreating army, which turned upon its pursuers. 
Longstreet's Corps, which was in the advance on 
the right, made the attack with vigor. A. P. Hill 
held the left. Jackson, having been delayed by the 
destruction of the bridges at Wliite Oak Swamp, 
had not yet come up ; and linger, from some cause 
failing to arrive in time, the Confederates were not 
strong enough to do more than maintain their front. 

*' The batteries on the centre and rio^ht became 
the aim of determined assaults, which were repeat- 
edly repulsed, till finally Randall's Battery was 
captured by a fierce charge made by two regiments, 
(the Fifty-fifth and Sixtieth Virginia,) advancing in 
wedge-shape without order, and with trailed arms. 
Pushing up to the muzzles of the guns, they 
bayonetted the cannoneers. The greater part of 
the supporting regiment fled ; but those who re- 
mained made a savage hand-to-hand and bayonet- 
fight over the guns, which were finally yielded." * 

At length, when General Lee had collected his 
scattered divisions, McOlellan had succeeded in 

■^^Swinton. 
10 * . H 



114 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

making communications with, his gun-boats, and 
was prepared to make a final stand at Malvern Hill. 

The Federal Army here opposed a solid front to 
the forces of the Southern General. They held a 
strong position on the elevated plateau of land, 
and to reach this front the Confederates were 
obliged to pass through a broken and swampy 
country, passable at but few places, and difficult at 
those. 

General D. H. Hill attacked prematurely, and 
found himself pitted alone against the entire Fed- 
eral army. Vigorous efforts were made by Ma- 
gruder, who at length came up with his infantry to 
take the heights by storm; but his division was 
broken and beaten back in detail. At nine o'clock 
the firing ceased ; the Confederates " slept on the 
field within one hundred yards of the enemy's 
guns," and McClellan withdrew his forces during 
the night to Harrison's Landing. Although re- 
pulsing so stubbornly the attacks of the Confed- 
erates, his army had suffered severely, and was no 
longer able to meet another onslaught. 

General Lee thus gives his reasons for not again 
assaulting the Federal army : 

'^ The Federal commander immediately began to 
fortify his position, which was one of great natural 
strength, flanked on each side by a creek, and the 
approach to his front commanded by the heavy 
guns of his shipping, in addition to those mounted 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 115 

in Ms intrenclimcnts. It was deemed inexpedient 
to attack liim, and in view of the condition of our 
troops, who had been marching and fighting almost 
incessantly for seven days under the most trying 
circumstances, it was determined to withdraw, in 
order to aiford them the repose of which they stood 
so much in need." 

The following general order was issued to the 
troops on the close of the seven days' battles : 

" Headquarters in the Field, 
July 7, 1862. 
" General Order, E'o. 75. 

" The General commanding, profoundly grateful 
to the Giver of all victory for the signal success with 
which He has blessed our arms, tenders his warmest 
thanks and congratulations to the army by whose 
valor such splendid results have been achieved. 

"On Thursday, June 26th, the powerful and 
thoroughly equipped army of the enemy was in- 
trenched in works vast in extent, and most for- 
midable in character, within sight of our capitol. 

*' To-day, the remains of that confident and 
threatening host lie upon the banks of the James 
River, thirty miles from Richmond, seeking to re- 
cover, under the protection of his gun-boats, from 
the effects of a series of disastrous defeats. 

" The battle beginning on the afternoon of the 26th 
of June, above Mechanicsville, continued until the 
night of July 1st, with only such intervals as were 
necessary to pursue and overtake the flying foe. 
His strong intrenchments and obstinate resistance 



116 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

were overcome, and our army swept resistlessly 
down the north side of the Chickahominy, until it 
reached the rear of the enemy, an'd broke his com- 
munication with the York, capturing or causing 
the destruction of many valuable stores, and by the 
decisive battle of Friday forcing the enemy from 
his line of powerful fortifications on the south side 
of the Chickahominy, and driving him to a pre- 
cipitate retreat. This victorious army pursued as 
rapidly as the obstructions placed by the enemy in 
his rear would permit, three times overtaking his 
flying columns, and as often driving him with 
slaughter from the field, leaving his numerous dead 
and wounded in our hands in every conflict. 

" The immediate fruits of our success are the relief 
of Richmond from a state of siege, the rout of the 
great army that so long threatened its safety, many 
thousand prisoners, including oflicers of high rank, 
the capture or destruction of stores to the value of 
millions, and the acquisition of thousands of arms, 
and fifty-one pieces of superior artillery. 

" The service rendered to the country in this short 
but eventful period can scarcely be estimated, and 
the General commanding cannot adequately ex- 
press his admiration of the courage, endurance, and 
soldierly conduct of the officers and men engaged. 

" These brilliant results have cost us many brave 
men ; but while we mourn the loss of our gallant 
dead, let us not forget that they died nobly in de- 
fence of their country's freedom, and have linked 
their memory with an event that will live forever 
in the hearts of a grateful people. 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 117 

" Soldiers ! your country will thank you for the 
heroic conduct you have displayed — conduct 
worthy of men engaged in a cause so just and 
sacred, and deserving a nation's gratitude and 
praise. 

" By command of General Lee, 

'' R. H. Chilton, A. A. General." 

On the 8th of July, General Lee took his army 
back to Richmond, where they were received with 
every demonstration of joy. 

Pollard, in his " Memoirs of General Lee," says 
of these memorable engagements: "Although^ he 
had not ascended to the climax of success he had 
designed, and destroyed McClellan, he had accom- 
plished a great and admirable work with an army 
the greater portion of which was raw troops." 

In his official report, General Lee wrote : 

" Under ordinary circumstances, the Federal army 
should have been destroyed. Its escape is due to 
the causes already stated. Prominent among them 
is the want of timely and correct information. This 
fact, attributable chiefly to the character of the 
country, enabled General McClellan skilfully to con- 
ceal his retreat, and to add much to the obstruc- 
tions with which nature had beset the way of our 
pursuing columns. 

" Regret that more was not accomplished gives 
way to gratitude to the Sovereign Ruler of the Uni- 
verse for the results achieved. 

" The siege of Richmond was raised, and the 



118 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

object of a campaign wliicli had been prosecuted, 
after months of preparation, at an enormous ex- 
penditure of men and money, completely frustrated. 
More than ten thousand prisoners, inchiding officers 
of rank, fifty-two pieces of artillery, and upwards of 
thirty-five thousand stand of small arms, were cap- 
tured. The stores and supplies of every description 
which fell into our hands were great in amount and 
value, but small in comparison with those destroyed 
by the enemy. His losses in battle exceeded our 
own, as attested by the thousands of dead and 
wounded left on every field ; while his subsequent 
inotction shows in what condition the survivors 
reached the protection to which they fled." 

It is due to General Lee's great adversary that 
every occasion should be taken to place before the 
public the admirable letter which he addressed at 
this time to President Lincoln, and wdiich is little 
known to the Southern people, who, when it was 
written, were cut ofi:* from newspapers, and since 
the war have had little leisure, little opportunity, 
and little heart, to read the record of the great 
struggle. 

Li this letter General McClellan gives his views 
(and they were those of a large party in the N'orth) 
as to how the war should be carried on, and it is 
said that his removal from the command of the 
army resulted from the attitude he here assumed. 

Immediately upon his removal the Administration 
organized a policy in great contrast with that of 



1862.] GENERA'L ROBERT E. LEE. 119 

General McClellan, whose suggestions were cliarac- 
terized by a moderation and wisdom which showed 
him to be a great statesman as well as a good sol- 
dier. 

It is remarkable that this letter is dated the 7th 
of July, after the disasters on the Chickahominy, 
when he may be supposed to have felt some resent- 
ment towards those who had compelled his retreat. 

^' This rebellion has assumed the character of a 
war ; as such it should be regarded, and it should 
be conducted upon the highest principles known to 
Christian civilization. It should not be a war look- 
ing to the subjection of any State in any event. It 
should not be at all a war upon population, but 
against armed forces and political organization. 
Neither confiscation of property, political execu- 
tions, territorial organizations of States, nor forcible 
abolition of slavery, should be contemplated for a 
moment. In prosecuting the war, all private prop- 
erty and unarmed persons should be strictly pro- 
tected, subject only to the necessity of military 
operations. All private property taken for military 
use should be paid or receipted for; pillage and 
waste should be treated as high crimes; all unneces- 
sary trespass sternly prohibited; and offensive de- 
meanor by the military toward citizens prompt- 
ly rebuked. Military arrests should not be toler- 
ated, except in places where active hostilities exist ; 
and oaths not required by enactments constitution- 
ally made, should be neither demanded nor received. 
Military government should be confined to the pres- 



120 A POPULAE LIFE OF [1862. 

ervation of public order and the protection of polit- 
ical right. Military power should not be allowed 
to interfere with the relations of servitude, either 
by supporting or impairing the authority of the 
master, except for repressing disorder, as in other 
cases. Slaves contraband under the Act of Con- 
gress, seeking military protection, should receive it. 
The right of the Government to appropriate perma- 
nently to its own service claims to slave labor 
should be asserted, and the right of the owner to 
compensation therefor should be recognized. 

" This principle might be extended upon grounds 
of military necessity and security to all the slaves 
of a particular State, thus working manumission in 
such State; and in Missouri, perhaps in Western 
Virginia also, and possibly even in Maryland, the 
expediency of such a measure is only a question of 
time. 

" A system of policy thus constitutional, and per- 
vaded by the influences of Christianity and free- 
dom, would receive the support of almost all truly 
loyal men, would deeply impress the rebel masses 
and all foreign nations, and it might be humbly 
hoped that it would commend itself to the favor of 
the Almighty. 

" Unless the principles governing the future con- 
duct of our struggle shall be made known and ap- 
proved, the effort to obtain requisite forces will be 
almost hopeless. A declaration of radical views, 
especially upon slavery, will rapidly disintegrate 
our present armies. 

" The policy of the Government must be sup- 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 121 

ported by concentrations of military power. The 
national forces should not be dispersed in expe- 
ditions, posts of occupation, and numerous armies ; 
but should be mainly collected into masses, and 
brought to bear upon the armies of the Confederate 
States. Those armies thoroughly defeated, the 
political structure which they support would soon 
cease to exist. 

" In carrying out any system of policy which you 
may form, you will require a commander-in-chief 
of the army — one who possesses your confidence, 
understands your views, and who is competent to 
execute your orders, by directing the military forces 
of the nation to the accomplishment of the objects 
by you proposed. I do not ask that place for 
myself. I am willing to serve you in such positions 
as you may assign me, and I will do so as faithfully 
as ever subordinate served superior. I may be on 
the brink of eternity, and, as I hope forgiveness 
from my Maker, I have written this letter with sin- 
cerity toward you, and from love for my country." 
11 



122 A POPULAIi LIFE OF [1862. 



CHAPTER XL 

McClellan's Removal — Pope in Command — His Cruel Orders — 
General Lee's Remonstrance — Pope's New Art of War — Cedar 
Run — General Lee's Advance — General Orders — Second 
Battle of Manassas. 

M^CLELLAISr was soon after recalled to Wash- 
ington, tliongh he had begged for reinforce- 
ments in order to renew the attack by way of Peters- 
burg. This General Lee feared he would do, and 
it was the movement most likely to accomplish his 
object, as General Grant afterwards demonstrated. 

But the advice of General Halleck prevailed with 
the War Department at Washington, and a new 
plan of operations was determined on, which should 
carry the war into another quarter. 

General Pope was put in command of the next 
" Grand Army." This time the advance was to be 
made again from the north of Richmond, as it had 
failed on the south. 

•General Pope had inaugurated a new system of 
warfare, very different from the humane and Chris- 
tian policy of McClellan. 

By his orders no private property was secure 
from spoliation. The troops of his command were 
allowed to plunder at will. And the lives of the 
unoffending citizens were no longer safe, it being 
determined to hold as hostages some of the most 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 123 

prominent among them. Of these hostages one 
was to be put to death for every Federal soldier 
shot by what he termed Confederate " bushwhack- 
ers." There was nothing to justify these cruel mea- 
sures, as the so-called " bushwhackers " were regu- 
larly enrolled Confederate Cavalry. He could only 
have desired to overawe and intimidate the people 
into submission. 

Indignant at these barbarous acts, General Lee, 
by command of the Confederate authorities, sent 
the following letter to the United States Secretary 
of War. 

" Headquarters Army of C. S. 
" Near Eichmond, Va., August 2, 1862. 

" To the General commanding the United States 
Army, Washington. 

" General : — In obedience to the order of his 
Excellency the President of the Confederate States, 
I have the honor to make you the following com- 
munication : 

*' On the 22d of July last, a cartel for a general 
exchange of prisoners was signed by Major-General 
John A. Dix, on behalf of the United States, and 
by Major-General D. H. Hill, on the part of this 
Government. By the terms of that cartel it is 
stipulated that all prisoners-of-war hereafter taken 
shall be discharged on parole until exchanged. 
Scarcely had the cartel been signed, when the mili- 
tary authorities of the United States commenced a 
practice changing the character of the war, from 



124 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

such as becomes civilized nations, into a campaign 
of indiscriminate robbery and murder. 

"A general order, issued by Major-General Pope 
on the 23d of July last, the day after the date of 
the cartel, directs the murder of our peaceful citi- 
zens as spies, if found quietly tilling their farms in 
his rear, even outside of his lines. 

" And one of his Brigadier-Generals, Steinwehr, 
has seized innocent and peaceful inhabitants, to be 
held as hostages, to the end that they may be mur- 
dered in cold blood if any of his soldiers are killed 
by some unknown persons, whom he designates as 
' bushwhackers.' Some of the military authori- 
ties seem to suppose that their end wdll be better 
attained by a savage war, in which no quarter is to 
be given, and no age or sex is to be spared, than 
by such hostilities as are alone recognized to be 
lawful in modern times. We find ourselves driven 
by our enemies by steady progress toward a prac- 
tice which we abhor, and which we are vainly 
struggling to avoid. 

" Under these circumstances, this Government 
has issued the accompanying order, which I am 
directed by the President to transmit to you, recog- 
nizing Major-General Pope, and his commissioned 
officers, to be in the position which they have 
chosen for themselves — that of robbers and mur- 
derers, and not that of public enemies, entitled, if 
captured, to be treated as prisoners-of-war. 

" The President also instructs me to inform you 
that we renounce our right of retaliation on the 
innocent, and will continue to treat the private sol- 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 125 

diers of General Pope's army as prisoners-of-war ; 
but if, after notice to your Government that they 
confine repressive measures to the punishment of 
commissioned officers who are willing to participate 
in these crimes, the savage practices threatened in 
the orders alluded to be persisted in, we shall re- 
luctantly be forced to the last resort of accepting 
the war on the terms chosen by our enemies, until 
the voice of an outraged humanity shall compel a 
respect for the recognized usages of war. "Wliile 
the President considers that the facts referred to 
would justify a refusal on our part to execute the 
cartel by which we have agreed to liberate an ex- 
cess of prisoners-of-war in our hands, a sacred re- 
gard to plighted faith, which shrinks from the sem- 
blance of breaking a promise, precludes a resort to 
such an extremity, nor is it his desire to extend to 
any other forces of the United States the punish- 
ment merited by General Pope, and such commis- 
sioned officers as choose to participate in the exe- 
cution of his infamous order. 

'' I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 
" Your obedient servant, 
^' II. E. Lee, General Commanding." 

This communication had the desired effect, and 
the order was afterwards rescinded. 

General Pope entered upon his Virginia cam- 
paign with the bold determination to see nothing 
but the " backs of his enemies." He told his troops 
to " look before and not behind. Success and glory 
are in the advance ; disaster and shame lurk in the 
11* 



126 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

rear." He said to them, '^ I constantly hear of tak- 
ing strong positions and holding them, — of lines 
of retreat and hases of supplies," and bade them 
" dismiss such ideas;" his headquarters were to be 
^'in the saddle." He had boasted, that, with an 
army like McClellan's, he saw nothing to prevent 
his marching from Washington to 'New Orleans ! 

The first obstacle that checked his confident 
career was none other than the formidable "Stone- 
wall." 

General Lee had detached this commander from 
the main army to meet Pope's threatened advance, 
though still in doubt whether McClellan, who yet 
remained on the James Eiver, might not from that 
" base " make another attempt upon Richmond. 

Jackson marched towards Culpepper, crossed the 
Rapidan on the 8th of August, and on the 9th 
fought Banks's Corps, in the battle of Cedar Run, 
near Culpepper Court-House. This was followed 
by the retreat of General Pope to the other side of 
the Rappahannock. 

It was in this engagement, when the fight was 
fiercest, and the sorely pressed forces of Early 
began to waver, that Jackson, detaching a portion 
of A. P. Hill's division that had just been sent to 
liim, threw himself upon the foe in a charge that 
decided the fate of the day. Again the men cried 
" Stonewall Jackson ! Stonewall Jackson ! " in tones 
of joy and triumph, and the hero himself forgot in 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 127 

the enthusiasm of the hour, that he was other than 
a " simple colonel leading his regiment ! " The 
Confederates occupied the field when darkness put 
an end to the struggle. 

General Lee having brought up the remainder 
of his army, now determined upon a movement 
that should surprise and confound his adversary, 
from its very improbability and apparent disregard 
of the rules of war. 

The followins: are General Lee's orders issued at 
this time : 

" Headquarters Army Northern Virginia, 
"August 19th, 1862. 
" Special Order, ^o. 185. 

" L General Longstreet's command, constituting 
the right wing of the army, will cross the Rapidan 
at Raccoon Ford, and move in the direction of Cul- 
pepper Court-House. General Jackson's command, 
constituting the left wing, will cross at Summer- 
ville Ford, and move in the same direction, keeping 
on the left of General Longstreet. General Ander- 
son's division will cross at Summerville Ford, fol- 
low the route of General Jackson, and act in 
reserve. The battalion of light artillery, under 
Colonel S. D. Lee, will take the same route. The 
cavalry under General Stuart will cross at Mor- 
ton's Ford, pursue the route by Stevensburg to 
Rappahannock Station, destroy the railroad-bridge, 
cut the enemy's communications and telegraph-line, 
and, operating toward Culpepper Court-IIouse, will 
take position on General Longstreet's right. 



128 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

" 11. The coDimanclers of each wing will desig- 
nate the reserve for their commands. Medical and. 
ammunition wagons will alone follow the troops 
across the Rapidan. The baggage and supply 
trains will be parked under their respective officers, 
in secure positions on the south side, so as not to 
embarrass the different roads. 

" III. Cooked rations for three days will be car- 
ried in the haversacks of the men, and provision 
must be made for foraging the animals. Straggling 
from the ranks is strictly prohibited, and com- 
manders will make arrangements to secure and 
j)unish the offenders. 

" lY. The movements herein directed will com- 
mence to-morrow, 20th instant, at dawn of day. 
"By command of General R. E. Lee, 

" A. P. Mason, A. A. G." 

" Headquarters Crenshaw's Farm, 
" August 19th, 1862. 

" General J. E. B. Stuart, commanding Cavalry. 

" General : — I desire you to rest your men to-day, 
refresh your horses, prepare rations and everything 
for the march to-morrow. Get what information 
you can of fords, roads, and position of the enemy, 
so that your march can be made understandingly 
and with vigor. I send to you Captain Mason, an 
experienced bridge-builder, &c., who I think will 
be able to aid you in the destruction of the bridge. 
When that is accomplished, or when in train of ex- 
ecution, as circumstances permit, I wish you to 
operate back toward Culpepper Court-House, creat- 
ing such confusion and consternation as you can, 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 129 

without U71 necessarily exposing your men, till you 
feel Longstreet's right. Take position there on his 
right, and hold yourself in reserve, and act as 
circumstances may require. 

" I wish to know during the day how you proceed 
in your preparations. They will require the per- 
sonal attention of all your officers. The last re- 
ports from the signal stations yesterday evening 
were, that the enemy was hreaking up his principal 
encampments and moving in direction of Culpep- 
per Court-House. 

" Yery respectfully, &c. 

" R. E. Lee, General." 

Jackson was ordered to put himself in Pope's 
rear, destroy the supplies at Manassas, where Pope 
had collected large stores, and then fall hack to a 
junction with Longstreet, who was to march to 
his aid. 

Wlien the news of the destruction of the stores 
at Manassas reached Pope, he supposed it to have 
been the work of a mere skirmishing party. Great 
was his surprise and exultation when he found that 
General Lee had actually separated his army, and 
that Jackson was, as it were, already in the lion's 
jaws. He wrote McDowell to hasten to the spot, 
declaring '' we shall bag the whole crowd." Jack- 
son saw his danger and knew just how to escape it. 
He lost not a moment at Manassas, but setting fire 
to the rich spoils that his worn veterans needed so 
sorely, retreated as swiftly and mysteriously as he 



130 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

had arrived. When McDowell came up, Jackson 
was nowhere to be found. One of the Federal 
officers telegraphed to Washington: '^I expect they 
(the Confederates) know what they are doing, which 
is more than any one here or anywhere knows." 

In the meanwhile Lee was marching rapidly for- 
ward with the remainder of his forces. Pope found 
Jackson at Groveton, where an engagement took 
place on the 29th. So ignorant was General Pope 
of the movements of the Confederates, that he was 
not aware of Longstreet's proximity at all, but 
thought he had only to do battle against Jackson's 
twenty thousand. 

The great battle was fought on the 30th — to be 
known in history as the " Second Battle of Manas- 
sas.''^ On ver}^ nearly the same ground that had 
witnessed the bloody conflict of '61, the same issue 
was to be tried over again. Only as regards posi- 
tion, "the opponents had changed sides. Johnston 
and Beauregard had assailed in old days from the 
direction of Manassas ; it was now Pope who had 
his base there." 

During the first part of the day the artillery prin- 
cipally were engaged; towards evening the infantry 
came to their aid. Jackson and Longstreet — the one 
on the left, the other on the right — charged in force. 
Cooke * says of this battle : " It was one of the 
most desperate of the war, and one of the blood- 

* Hammer and Rapier. 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 131 

iest. The lieutenants of General Pope were abler 
than their commander. They attacked with a gal- 
lantry which more than once threatened to sweep 
before it the Confederate line of battle; and in 
charge after charge, in the face of frightful volleys 
of small arms and artillery, essayed to break through 
the bristling hedge of bayonets before them." He 
describes the assault upon the Confederate centre ; 
how charge after charge was made and repulsed; and 
" then," continues the narrative, " the great field 
between the adversaries suddenly swarmed with 
Jackson's men, rushing forward in the wildest dis- 
order, without pretence of a line, and ' every man 
for himself,' tow^ard the enemy. For a few minutes 
the field thus presented a spectacle of apparent dis- 
organization, which would have made a European 
officer tremble. Then suddenly all changed as the 
men drew near the enemy; they checked their 
headlong speed ; those in front stopped, those in 
rear closed up ; the lines were dressed as straight as 
an arrow, with the battle-flags rippling as they 
moved; cheers resounded, and the regiments en- 
tered the woods, from which rose the long continu- 
ous crash of musketry, as the opposing lines came 
together." 

As the evening wore on, the Confederates were 
steadily advancing. They had gained another vic- 
tory on the banks of Bull Run. General Pope was 
hopelessly routed, and fell back from Manassas 



132 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

only to retreat in a day or two witliin tlie lines at 
"Washington. Seven thousand prisoners were pa- 
roled on the field. 

Thus ended the third advance upon Richmond. 
The superior generalship of Lee had once more 
baffled the schemes of a Federal Lieutenant. The 
endurance and valor of his men were such as find 
few parallels in history. General Lee is reported 
to have said, in allusion to their gaunt and ragged 
appearance, that there was one occasion when he 
was never ashamed of them, — '' when they were 
fighting." 

The Confederate losses in this campaign amount- 
ed in all to nine thousand one hundred and twelve, 
including four generals who were wounded, Ewell, 
Tahafero, Field, and Trimble. 

The Federal losses greatly exceeded this, amount- 
ing to over thirty thousand. They had eight gen- 
erals killed, and left two thousand wounded in the 
hands of the Confederates, besides the prisoners 
paroled or captured. They lost " thirty pieces of 
artillery, twenty thousand stand of small arms, 
numerous colors, and a large amount of stores, be- 
sides those taken by General Jackson at Manassas." 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 133 



CHAPTER XII. 

Crossing the Potomac — Address to the People of Maryland — 
Boonsboro Gap — Harper's Ferry. 

11 HE situation was now most favorable to the Con- 
- federates. Korth-eastern Virginia was freed 
from the occupation of the enemy, and the Federal 
troops stationed at Winchester had retired to Har- 
per's Ferry. 

A Northern correspondent writes from Washing- 
ton about this time : ^' After fifteen months of toil 
and bloodshed, we have now returned to the start- 
ing point, and the whole work has to be commenced 
over again." The Valley of Virginia once more 
thrown open to the Southern army, afforded valuable 
resources which had before helped to subsist the 
enemy. 

A candid Northern historian says : 

" The success of the campaign had been remark- 
able. From the front of Richmond the theatre of 
operations had been transferred to the front of 
Washington; the Union armies had been reduced 
to a humiliating defensive, and the rich harvests of 
the Shenandoah Valley and I^orthern Virginia were 
the prize of the victors. To crown and consolidate 
these conquests, Lee now determined to cross the 
frontier into Maryland." * 

* Swinton. 



12 



134 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

This movement was greatly favored by the 
Southern people, who, having experienced the suf- 
ferings entailed by the presence of an invading 
army, were naturally anxious that the [N'orth should 
in turn feel these hardships, and realize the war in 
another manner than in the money speculations by 
which many so profited. 

It was always part of General Lee's plan to carry 
the war as far from Richmond as possible; and 
while his troops were elated by their recent suc- 
cesses, and the forces of Pope were disorganized, it 
was deemed the fit moment to push forward into 
their own territory. 

" The war w^as thus transferred," he says, " from 
the interior to the frontier, and the supplies of rich 
and productive districts made accessible to our 
army. To prolong a state of affairs in every way 
desirable, and not to permit the season for active 
operations to pass without endeavoring to inflict 
other injury upon the enemy, the best course ap- 
peared to be the transfer of the army into Mary- 
land." 

* 

Besides, it was believed at the South that the 
people of Maryland only awaited the appearance 
of the Confederates, to rise en masse to join them. 

Thousands of her 3^ouths filled the ranks of the 
Virginia army, and exiled families were continually 
coming over the border, with tales of wrong and 
oppression that called for reparation. 



1862] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 135 

But while the Southern sympathy of the greater 
portion of her inhabitants was undoubtedly deep 
and genuine, the Western part of the State, like 
"Western Virginia, held many inimical to the Con- 
federate cause. 

It was through this region that General Lee was 
compelled to pass — a region whose proximity to 
Penns3dvania, settled, as it was, by the same class 
of people, made it seem little better than a con- 
tinuation of that " loyal " district. 

It is not probable that the cool and clear-headed 
commander shared to any great extent the confi- 
dent hopes of soldiers and citizens as to the result 
of their mission. He says : 

" The condition of things in Maryland * en- 
couraged the belief that the presence of our army, 
however inferior to that of the enemy, would in- 
duce the Washington Government to retain all its 
available force to provide for contingencies, which 
its course toward the people of that State gave it 
reason to apprehend,' and ' might afford us an op- 
portunity to aid the citizens of Maryland in any 
efforts they might be disposed to make to recover 
their liberty.' " 

To the sounds of martial music, singing the 
popular air, " Maryland, my Maryland," the " rag- 
ged Rebels " * crossed the river, excited and joyful 

* "Thousands," says General Lee, "were destitute of shoes." 



136 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

at the accomplishment of their long cherished wish. 
Many were Marjlanders, and hailed the redemption 
of their native State from what they esteemed a 
hateful bondage. Many Virginians looked for the 
first time since the beginning of the conflict on 
the noble stream, which miles away flowed by their 
lost homesteads. To all alike it was a proud and 
joyful moment. 

The correspondent of a Northern Journal thus 
wrote of the appearance of these troops : 

" I had heard much of the decayed appearance 
of the Rebel soldiers, but such a looking crowd! 
Ireland, in her worst straits, could present no 
parallel, and yet they glor^^ in their shame ! " 

" x^ever," says General Jones, who commanded 
the old Stonewall Division, " had the array been so 
dirty, ragged, and ill provided for, as on this march." 

The most perfect discipline was maintained by 
the Southern troops, l^ot a fence was displaced 
without being paid for. In marked contrast to the 
course of General Pope, it was strictly enjoined 
upon the troops to treat all who professed Union 
sentiments with " kindness and forbearance." * 

The passage of the Potomac was made on the 3d 

* One of the officers of General Lee's staff gives an amusinj; 
story of a "Yankee school-marm" in Hagerstown, who, when 
the army marched through that place, thinking to insult them, 
and perhaps bring upon herself that "martyrdom " which it was 
the constant endeavor of such people to secure, rushed from her 
house^ followed by a train of young girls, planted herself in front 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 137 

of September, near the month of the Monocacy, as 
the strength of the Federal works at Washington 
and Alexandria rendered the attempt impracticable 
further down. 

In one of the actions of this campaign, General 
Lee met with an accident which came near being 
very serious. He had dismounted, and was holding 
his horse with the bridle twisted about his arm. 
The animal, suddenly frightened by the firing, 
threw his master to the ground, injuring both his 
hands, the bones of the left one being broken. 

Having assembled his army at Frederick, Gen- 
eral Lee issued to the people of Maryland the fol- 
lowing address. 

" Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, 
" Near Frederick, Sept. 8th, 1862. 

^' To THE People of Maryland. 

" It is right that you should know the purpose 
that has brought the army under my command 

of General Lee, and commenced singing in loud tones, " The Star- 
spangled Banner/' 

General Lee, with his usual politeness, lifted his hat to her, and 
immediately gave orders that no one should speak to or molest 
the group. 

It is related that, foiled in her attempt to make a scene by this 
display of "patriotism," she retired rather discomfited. 
, Very different was the feeling elicited by his presence upon a 
young and beautiful girl, when on a later occasion he passed 
through the same town. 

Standing upon the sidewalk with a group of ladies, collected to 
see the army pass, she exclaimed, in her enthusiasm, aloud, "Oh 
what a magnificent man ! Why ia he not on our side ? " 
12* 



138 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

within the limits of your State, so far as that pur- 
pose concerns yourselves. 

^' The people of the Confederate States have long 
watched with the deepest sympathy the wrongs and 
outrages that have been inflicted upon the citizens 
of a Commonwealth allied to the States of the 
South by the strongest social, political, and com- 
mercial ties. 

" They have seen with profound indignation their 
sister State deprived of every right, and reduced to 
the condition of a conquered province. Under the 
pretence of supporting the Constitution, but in vio- 
lation of its most valuable provisions, your citizens 
have been arrested and imprisoned upon no charge, 
and contrary to all forms of law. The faithful and 
manly protest against this outrage, made by the 
venerable and illustrious Marylanders — to whom 
in better days no citizen appealed in vain — was 
treated with contempt and scorn. The govern- 
ment of your chief city has been usurped by armed 
strangers ; your Legislature has been dissolved by 
the unlawful arrest of its members; freedom of 
speech and of the press has been suppressed ; words 
have been declared offences by an arbitrary decree 
of the Federal Executive, and citizens ordered to 
be tried by military commissions for what they may 
dare to speak. 

" Believing that the people of Marjdand possess 
a spirit too lofty to submit to such a government, 
the people of the South have long wished to aid you 
in throwing off this foreign 3-oke, to enable you 
again to enjoy the inalienable rights of freemen, and 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E.LEE. 139 

restore the independence and sovereignty of your 
State. In obedience to this wish, our army has 
come among you, and is prepared to assist you with 
the power of its arms in regaining the rights of 
which you have been so unjustly despoiled. This, 
citizens of Maryland, is our mission, so far as you 
are concerned. 'No restraint on your free will is 
intended; no intimidation will be allowed, within 
the limits of this army at least. Marylanders shall 
once more enjoy their ancient freedom of thought 
and speech. We know no enemies among you, 
and will protect all of you in every opinion. It is 
for you to decide your destiny, freely and without 
constraint. This army will respect your choice, 
whatever it may be ; and while the Southern people 
will rejoice to welcome you to your natural position 
among them, they will only welcome you when you 
come in of your own free will. 

" R. E. Lee, General Commanding." 

Eecruiting offices were opened, but few responded 
to the call. There was little active sympathy ex- 
pected from those immediately in the Confederate 
lines, and it was soon clearly perceived that the 
arm of the Federal power lay too heavily upon the 
oppressed sections, to allow any hope of a general 
uprising. With Lee so far on their north-western 
border, the Federal capital in their midst, and every 
foot of ground patrolled by Union guards, it might 
well seem hopeless. 

General Lee, in the meanwhile, was preparing 



140 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

for action. He had supposed Harper's Ferry would 
have been evacuated, as soon as it was known that 
the Southern army was in Maryland. Such was 
manifestly the dictate of militar}^ prudence. But 
disregarding the advice of McClellan, who was 
once more put in command of the Federal forces, 
General Halleck ordered the garrison to remain 
there. 

General Lee, to whom its reduction was then a 
matter of great importance, in order to keep open 
his communications with the Valley, sent General 
Jackson forward for this purpose. 

This unexpected obstacle caused some delay and 
change of programme. General McClellan is re- 
presented to have been in evident perplexity as to 
his adversary's movements, when by a singular and 
unfortunate accident he came into possession of the 
plan of campaign. An order sent by General Lee 
to one of his Division commanders had been found 
on the floor of a house in Frederick. Picked up 
by a Federal soldier, it was forwarded by him to 
his Commander-in-Chief, thus affording him the in- 
calculable advantao;e of knowins; beforehand ex- 
actly what would be the disposition of the enemy's 
troops. 

Of course, his first object was to send succor to 
Harper's Ferry. 

General Lee, though surprised at his designs 
being anticipated, lost no time in dispatching D. 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 141 

IL Hill to dispute with the enemy the passage of 
Boonsboro Gap, through which McClellan hoped to 
reach Harper's Ferry and relieve the garrison. 

A severe action then ensued at South Mountain, 
near Boonsboro, which lasted five hours, with 
heavy loss on both sides. The Confederates held 
their ground gallantly, and kept the Federal forces 
in check until General Jackson had completed the 
reduction of Harper's Ferry. "When McClellan 
succeeded in passing the Gap, it was too late ; Jack- 
son, always prompt and energetic, had accomplished 
his object. 

On the 15th of September, Harper's Ferry, with 
its valuable armory, yielded to the soldiers of 
" Stonewall." " Eleven thousand troops were sur- 
rendered, together with seventy-three pieces of 
artillery, thirteen thousand stand of arms, two hun- 
dred wagons, and a large amount of stores." 

McClellan had been foiled in his attempt to cut 
off Jackson. Already the latter was hastening to 
unite himself with Lee, leaving General A. P. Hill 
to settle the terms of the surrender. By the 16th, 
the Southern forces were again united near the 
little village of Sharpsburg, which was to give its 
name to the great battle about to follow. 



142 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 



CHAPTER XIIL 

The Battle of Sharpsburg — Recrossing the Potomac — General 
Lee's Address to his Army — Review of the Campaign — Per- 
sonal Incidents. 

O'N the morning of the 17th, " 33,000 Confede- 
rates were in line of battle to engage a united 
army which certainly exceeded 100,000 men,* 
within the limits of the field." 

Before smirise the combat opened. The fiercest 
fighting was on the left, for here the Confederate 
army " touched the Potomac," and McClellan's 
object was to drive them " into the river." The 
position of Lee is thus briefly described by Cooke, f 
" His back to Sharpsburg, his left hand touching 
the Potomac, his right extending into the angle 
formed by the river and Antietam Creek." 

Hooker commenced the assault by a furious 
attack upon the Confederate left, which was held 
by Jackson's troops. With his corps of eighteen 
thousand men he made such havoc with Jackson's 
four thousand, as to destroy " more than half the 
brigades forming the first line." 

But the Confederates held their ground until 

* General McClellan says: "Our forces were total, inaction, 
eighty-seven thousand one hundred and seventy-four." 
t Hammer and Rapier. 



1862.J GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 143 

Hooker was reinforced, wlien tliey gave way. At 
this critical moment, portions of McLaws' and 
Walker's divisions coming to their aid, they threw 
themselves afresh upon the Federal lines, and com- 
pelled them finally to fall back. Jackson drove 
them half a mile, and then took up his position on 
the line he had held in the morning. 

Though this was considered the most important 
achievement of the day, on other parts of the field 
the interest was hardly less great. 

Owing to some misunderstanding of orders, 
General liodes's brigade w^as withdrawn from the 
centre at a time when it was most desirable to 
keep there a strong force. General 1). H. Hill 
seeing the situation, that there was danger of the 
army being divided, moved hastily up at the head 
of two hundred men. A gallant charge was made 
upon the Federal hosts, who were rapidly filling up 
the vacant space ; a battery of the Washington Artil- 
lery w^as thrown forward; and being nearly disabled, 
General Longstreet himself worked one of the 
guns that stood near him. One company of the 27th 
North Carolina faced the enemy, " standing boldly 
in line without a cartridge," as General Lee after 
w^ards reported. The Federal advance upon the 
Confederate centre was checked, and they were 
compelled to withdraw. 

On the right, Burnside was ordered by McClellan 
to take the brids^e over the Antietam, which was 



144 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

held by General Toombs, of Georgia, with only 
four hundred and three men. General Toombs, in 
his report, says : "Though the bridge and upper 
ford were thus left open to the enemy, such was 
his extreme caution, that he lost nearly two hours 
in crossing and getting into action on our side of 
the river ; about which time A. P. Hill's Division 
arrived from Harper's Ferry." These Georgians 
five times repelled the charge, until, at length, 
Burnside, by crossing lower down, gained his ob- 
ject, and Toombs was forced to retire. But Burn- 
side fearing to attempt more, stopped at the bridge, 
until a peremptory order from McClellan reached 
bim, by which he was directed to take the batteries 
beyond. These were held by General Jones wdth 
a small force. After a brief, though obstinate 
defence, they were taken by Burnside, but only 
held a short time, when General A. P. Hill, arriv- 
ing opportunely from Harper's Ferry, was sent to 
recover them. This was successfully accomplished, 
and Burnside driven back to the bridge. A 
graphic account is given by the correspondent of a 
^Northern paper, of this part of the action, and the 
importance that attached to Burnside's holding his 
ground. 

McClellan had no fresh troops to send to his aid, 
when Burnside's messenger rides up. " His mes- 
sage is : ' I want troops and guns. If you do not 
send them, I cannot hold my position half an hour.' 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 145 

McClellan's only answer for the moment is a glance 
at the western sky. Then he turns and speaks very 
slowly : ^ Tell General Burnside this is the battle of 
the war. He must hold his ground till dark, at any 
cost. I will send him Miller's battery. I can 
do nothing more. I have no infantry.^ Then, as 
the messenger was riding away, he called him 
back. ' Tell him if he can not hold his ground, then 
the bridge to the last man ! always the bridge ! If 
the bridge is lost, all is lost.' " 

Such was their critical condition in the estima- 
tion of the Federal commander. 

But the contest was ended. The worn and ex- 
hausted veterans of Lee could not pursue their ad- 
vantage. The bridge on which McClellan had 
staked all was still his when darkness came down 
upon the combatants. 

This Avas no Federal victory, as was afterwards 
claimed, but a drawn battle, which, considering the 
disparity of numbers, might rather be deemed a 
triumph for the smaller army. 

All the following day Lee remained in line of 
battle; but no attack was made. At night he with- 
drew his army, deliberately and without molesta- 
tion, across the Potomac. 

Clearly McClellan was not able to cross swords a 
second time with the opponent he claimed to have 
defeated. He says : " The next morning I found 
that our loss had been so great, and there was so 

13 K 



146 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

much disorganization in some of the commands, 
that I did not consider it proper to renew the attack 
that day." And the hest I^orthern historian of 
the war says : '' The action at Antietam, though a 
victory in its results, seeing that it so crippled Lee's 
force as to put an end to the invasion, was tactically 
a drawn battle — a battle in which AlcClellan had 
suffered as much as he had inflicted." 

The expedition into Maryland was over. 

That more was not accomplished has been as- 
cribed in part to the diminished numbers of Gen- 
eral Lee from ^' stragglers." TVe quote from Col- 
onel Cooke the best explanation and apology that 
could be made for this lamentable fact. When 
they crossed, " only about one-half" of the Army 
of Northern Virginia " was at his (Lee's) orders. 
ITearly half of Lee's army was still limping along, 
barefooted and exhausted, far in rear, on the Vir- 
ginia side. Not once, but a hundred times has the 
statement been made, that these men were strag- 
glers, intending desertion. That statement is an 
injustice to the brave soldiers of the army. The 
immense marches and desperate combats of the last 
month had exhausted them. Barefooted, in rags, 
unfed, worn out, they dragged their feet along, 
trying to keep up, and they would have arrived, 
but for one circumstance. McClellan's rapid ad- 
vance uncovered the fords near Leesburg; crossing 
these, the 'stragglers' would have found McClellan, 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 147 

not Lcc. In fact, General Lee issued an order for- 
bidding it, and thus these twenty thousand or more 
unfortunate, not criminal men, who filled the fields 
of Loudoun, or crouched on the heights near Lees- 
Lurg, were pointed at and stigmatized as strag- 
glers." 

Many on this toilsome march were ma'de lame for 
months, others for life. 

On his return to Virginia, General Lee wrote the 
following letter to one of his daughters : 

"Headquarters near Martinsbueg, 

"September 23d, 1862. 

"My dear Daughter: — I have received your 
two last affectionate letters, w^hich have given me 
great pleasure and comfort 

" I am unable to write to you, and have to em- 
ploy the pen of a friend. The doctors say it will 
be three or four weeks yet before I will be able to 
use my own 

" I presume the papers give you full accounts of 
the movements and doings of the army. You know 
I have but little news ever to tell, and can't keep 
pace with our letter-writers. 

" We had two hard-fought battles in Maryland, 
and did not consider ourselves beaten, as our ene- 
mies supposed. We were greatly outnumbered, 
and opposed by double (if not treble)* our strength ; 
yet we repulsed all their attacks, held our ground, 

* This, with his accustomed desire never to run the slightest risk 
of exaggeration^ was marked out evidently with his own lamed 
hand. 



14S A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

and retired when it suited our convenience. Their 
loss is said to be very heavy, and their papers re- 
port thirteen of their generals killed and wounded 
at Sharpsburg. Among the former is my old en- 
gineer-comrade, General Mansfield. With much 
love and great affection, your father, 

"R. E. Lee." 

General Lee sums up the successes of this entire 
campaign in his address to the troops upon their 
return from Maryland : 

" Heapquartees Army of Northern Virginia, 
" October 2, 1862. 

" In reviewing the achievements of the army dur- 
ing the present campaign, the Commanding General 
cannot withhold the expression of his admiration 
of the indomitable courage it has displayed in 
battle, and its cheerful endurance of privation and 
hardships on the march. 

" Since your great victories around Richmond, 
you have defeated the enemy at Cedar Mountain, 
expelled him from the Rappahannock, and after a 
conflict of three days, utterly repulsed him on the 
plains of Manassas, and forced him to take shelter 
within the fortifications around his capital. 

" Without halting for repose, you crossed the 
Potomac, stormed the heights of Harper's Ferry, 
made prisoners of more than eleven thousand men, 
and captured upwards of seventy pieces of artillery, 
all their small arms, and other munitions of war. 

" Wliile one corps of the army was thus engaged, 
the other insured its success by arresting at Boons 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 149 

boro the combined armies of tbe enemy, advancing 
under their favorite General to the relief of their 
beleaguered comrades. 

" On the field of Sharpsburg, with less than one- 
third his numbers, you resisted, from daylight until 
dark, the whole army of the enemy, and repulsed 
every attack along his entire front, of more than 
four miles in extent. 

" The whole of the following day you stood pre- 
pared to resume the conflict on the same ground, 
and retired next morning without molestation 
across the Potomac. 

" Two attempts, subsequently made by the enemy, 
to follow you across the river, have resulted in his 
complete discomfiture, and being driven back with 
loss. 

" Achievements such as these demanded much 
valor and patriotism. History records few examples 
of greater fortitude and endurance than this army 
has exhibited; and I am commissioned by the Pres- 
ident to thank you in the name of the Confederate 
States for the undying fame you have won for their 
arms. 

" Much as you have done, much more remains to 
be accomplished. The enemy again threatens us 
with invasion, and to your tried valor and patriot- 
ism the country looks with confidence for deliver- 
ance and safety. Your past exploits give assurance 
that this confidence is not misplaced.* 

" E. E. Lee, General Commanding." 

* " The moral effect of the campaign which General Lee had now 
concluded is too large and brilliant to be omitted from any esti- 
13* 



150 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

An officer of General Lee's staff gives us the 
following interesting incident which occurred at 
this time : 

" General Lee's wonderful forbearance and con- 
sideration for others was surprisingly evinced the 
night following our passage over the Potomac, after 
the tight at Sharpsburg. In withdrawing from that 

mate of results. To the world it was a chapter of wonders. It 
had accomplished a sum of victories unequalled in the same space 
of time by anything in the previous or subsequent experience of 
the war ; it had made a record of toils, hardships, and glories 
famous in history ; it had accumulated a brilliant spoil, and the 
wonderful statement is derived from the books of the Provost- 
Marshal in Richmond, that, in twelve or fifteen weeks, the Con- 
federates had taken and paroled no less than forty-odd thousand 
prisoners ! " — Lee and his Lieutenants, Pollard. 

The same author quotes from the London Times, commenting upon 
these events. " The people of the Confederate States have made 
themselves famous. If the renown of brilliant courage, stern de- 
votion to a cause, and military achievements almost without a 
parallel, can compensate men for the toil and privations of the 
hour, then the countrymen of Lee and Jackson may be consoled 
amid their sufferings. From all parts of Europe, from their 
enemies as well as their friends, from those who condemn their 
acts as well as those who sympathize with them, comes the tribute 
of admiration. When the history of this war is written, the ad- 
miration will doubtless become deeper and stronger, for the veil 
which has covered the South will be drawn away, and disclose a 
picture of patriotism, of unanimous self-sacrifice, of wise and firm 
administration, which we can now only see indistinctly. The 
details of extraordinary national effort which has led to the re- 
pulse and almost to the destruction of an invading force of more 
than half a million of men, will then become known to the world ; 
and whatever may be the fate of the new nationality, or its sub- 
sequent claims to the respect of mankind, it will assuredly begin 
its career with a reputation for genius and valor which the most 
famous nations may envy." 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 151 

field it had been a matter of special gratulation 
that not the smallest trophy had been left to the 
enemy. 

" To prevent his passage over the river, the 
Southern heights were crowned with a number of 
guns, from twenty-five to thirty, supported by in- 
fantry. Separated from our wagons, we had spread 
our blankets under an apple-tree, and retired, sup- 
perless, and fatigued with the long day's march to- 
wards Winchester. 

" About one o'clock in the night, the ofiicer com- 
manding that passage rode up, asked for the Gen- 
eral, dismounted and entered into conversation. 
The first announcement was, that the enemy had 
taken the heights, and captured all of the guns. 
* All,' said the General. ' Yes, General, I fear, all.' 
This announcement lifted me right oif my blanket, 
and I moved away, fearful I might betray my feel- 
ings. The General exhibited no temper, made no 
reproach that I could hear, either then, or even 
afterwards, when he learned that the gallantry of a 
subordinate ofiicer had saved the command, and 
that the commanding ofiicer had been premature 
in his report. 

" This would have been an extraordinary instance 
of forbearance, even had this calamity been an- 
nounced whilst he was enjoying comparative ease; 
but under the physical discomfort of his immediate 
surroundings, irritating in themselves to a nervous 
temperament, such as mine, it struck me as truly 
grand." 

It was at Sharpsburg that a spectator describea 



152 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

General Lee as riding up to the Rockbridge Artil- 
lery, which was fiercely engaging the enemy, and 
greeting his youngest son, Robert, who, begrimed 
with smoke and dust, was bravely working one of 
the guns. "How are you, father?" was all that 
Robert had time to say, and the father replied 
quietly, " That's right, my son; drive those people 
back." 



CHAPTER XIY. 



Encampment aroiind Winchester — Stuart's Raid into Pennsyl- 
vania — The Federal Army in Motion — Removal of McClellan 
— Burnside in Command — Camp at Fredericksburg — Letter 
from General Lee to his Daughter — The Bombardment of 
Fredericksburg — The Battle — General Lee's Despatch, 

/^ REAT was the disappointment at the North 
^ when the news of General Lee's safe return to 
Virginia reached there. McCabe, in his Life of Lee, 
quotes a passage from the Tribune, which explains 
the general dissatisfaction, and testifies to the suc- 
cess of his prompt and energetic movements. 

" He leaves us the debris of his late camps, two 
disabled pieces of artillery, a few hundred of his 
stragglers, perhaps two thousand of his wounded, 
and as many more of his unburied dead. Not a 
sound fieldpiece, caisson, ambulance, or wagon; 
not a tent, box of stores, or a pound of ammu- 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E.LEE. 153 

iiitioii. lie takes witli him the supplies gathered in 
Maryland, and the rich spoils of Harper's Ferry." 

The army was now to enjoy a month or two of 
rest, which they sorely needed. Encamped around 
"Winchester, where it was rejoined hy the unfortu- 
nates left behind on the march into Maryland, who 
were now fresh and vigorous again, it fully benefited 
by the unwonted and welcome relaxation. 

The Government in the meanwhile took mea- 
sures to provide for its necessities, in fresh supplies 
of shoes and clothing. 

A letter quoted in the biography just mentioned 
gives a pleasant picture of their life in camp at this 
period. It is written by one of Jackson's corps : 

^' The only ' useful occupation ' of this brigade 
for some time past has been to destroy all the rail- 
roads in reach ; apparently, too, for no better reason 
than the fellow had for killing the splendid ana- 
conda in the Museum, because it was his ' rule to 
kill snakes wherever found.' It is when idle in 
camp that the soldier is a great institution, yet one 
that must be seen to be appreciated. Pen cannot 
fully paint the air of cheerful content, irresponsible 
loungings, and practical spirit of jesting that ' ob- 
tains,' ready to seize on any odd circumstance in 
its licensed levity. A ' cavalryman ' comes rejoic- 
ing in immense to]3 boots, for which in fond pride 
he has invested full forty dollars of pay; at once 
the cry from a hundred voices follows him along 



154 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

the line : ' Come up out o' them boots ! come out ! 
Too soon to go into winter-quarters ! I know 
you 're in thar ! — see your arms sticking out ! ' A 
bumpkin rides by in an uncommonly big hat, and 
is frightened by the shout : ' Come down out o' 
that hat ! come down ! 'Tain't no use to say you 
ain't up there ; I see your legs hanging out ! ' A 
fancy staff officer was horrified at the irreverent 
reception of his nicely twisted moustache, as he 
heard from behind innumerable trees : ^ Take them 
mice out. o' your mouth! take 'em out! 'No use 
to say they ain't thar ! — see their tails hanging 
out ! ' Another, sporting immense whiskers, was 
urged to ' come out of that bunch of har ! I know 
you 're in thar ! I see your ears a working ! ' 
Sometimes a rousing cheer is heard in the distance 
— it is explained : ' Boys, look out ! Here comes 
*' Old Stonewall," or an old har, one or t'other ; ' — 
they being the only individuals who invariably 
bring down the house. 

"But the whole day of camp-life is not yet de- 
scribed : the night remains, and latterly it is no 
unusual scene, as the gloaming gathers, to see a 
group quietly collect beneath the dusky shadows 
of the forest-trees, — ' God's first temples,' — whence 
soon arise the notes of some familiar hymn, awak- 
ing memories of childhood and of home. The 
youthful chaplain, in earnest tones, tells his holy 
mission; another hymn is heard, and by the waning 
light of the pine torches the weird-like figures of 
the grouped soldiers are seen reverently moving to 
the night's repose." 






1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 155 

They had before them exemplars in piety, as in 
all manly virtues, in their two great leaders, Jack- 
son and Lee. 

Only one event of importance occurred at this 
time. General Lee, in order to learn something 
of the enemy's movements and strength, or- 
dered General Stuart on a reconnoissance into 
Maryland and Pennsylvania. This was accom- 
plished early in October, with that officer's accus- 
tomed brilliant daring and promptitude. McClel- 
lan, becoming aware of his bold attempt, ordered 
all the fords of the Potomac to be covered, and had 
troops to intercept him at every point, so that it 
seemed impossible for him to escape. He returned, 
however, in safety, after making the circuit from 
Williamsport — where he crossed over — around 
through Chambersburg and Gettysburg, to the 
ford near Poolesville, where he recrossed, ha^dng 
here a slight skirmish with the advance of Stone- 
man's cavalry, the main body arriving just too late 
to prevent his escape. He had " marched over 
eighty miles in twenty-four hours." 

In this expedition Stuart gained much valuable 
information, captured and brought off a number 
of horses, and only suffered the loss of two or 
three men missing, who lost their way, and the 
same number wounded. 

McClellan, who had been lingering at Harper's 
Ferry recruiting his army, now received peremptory 



156 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

orders to '' advance." In the latter part of October 
he moved across the Potomac. His pLan was to 
march to Warrenton, and, if possible, separate 
Lee's army, overcoming each portion in turn ; or, 
failing in this, to force him to concentrate as far 
back as Gordonsville. General Lee, while uncer- 
tain as to his antagonist's movements, thought it 
advisable to remain in the valley while sending 
Jackson to check his advance. 

McClellan had hardly reached lYarrenton before 
he was suddenly, and without warning, recalled 
from his command, and Burnside put in his place. 
This conduct on the part of the Federal Govern- 
ment was most fortunate for the Confederates. It 
removed from the leadership of the opposing forces 
their ablest general, and, by the delay occasioned, 
gave General Lee ample time to collect his forces 
and mature his plans. General Burnside proceeded 
to alter the organization of his army, and then de- 
cided upon a diiferent plan of campaign. 

He did not wish to hazard a general engagement, 
and determined upon marching to Fredericksburg, 
taking possession of the town and making it his 
winter-quarters, from whence it w^ould be easy to 
begin offensive operations in the spring. 

General Lee, made aware of the enemy's move- 
ments by the vigilance of Stuart's cavalry, sent 
forward a portion of Longstreet's corps, and occu- 
pied the heights of Fredericksburg before Burn- 
side's had moved up. 



1862.] GENERAL TwOBERT E. LEE. 157 

General Lee followed witli the rest of tlie army. 
On the 24th of IS'ovember he writes : 

" Camp neae Fredericksbukg, Nov. 24, 1862. 
"My dear Daughter: — I have just received 
your letter of the 17th, which has afforded me great 
gratification. I regretted not finding you in Rich- 
mond, and grieve over every opportunity of seeing 
you that is lost, for I fear they will become less and 
less frequent* I am glad however that you have 
been able to enjoy the society of those who are so 
well qualified to render you happy, and who are so 
deservedly loved and admired. The death of my 

dear A was indeed to me a bitter pang. But 

the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; 
blessed be the name of the Lord. Li the quiet 
hours of nio^lit, when there is nothinGT to lis-hten 
the full weight of my grief, I feel as if I should be 
overwhelmed. I had always counted, if God should 
spare me a few days of peace after this cruel war 
was ended, that I should have her with me. But 
year after year my hopes go out, and I must be re- 
signed. I write with difliculty, and must be brief. 
F. and R. are near me and well. !N'ephew F. has 
laid aside his crutches, and I hope will soon join 
me. Your mother, I presume, informs you of the 
best. General Burnside's whole army is apparently 
opposite Fredericksburg, and stretches from the 

* This daughter was then within the enemy's lines, having, by 
the sudden movements of troops, while visiting relatives in a re- 
mote country place, been accidentally cut off from her friends 
and family, and was for many months debarred from all but a 
very precarious intercourse with them. 
14 



158 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

Rappahannock to the Potomac. What his inten- 
tions are he has not yet disclosed. I am sorry he is 
in position to oppose our friends and citizens of the 
' Northern Neck.' He threatens to bombard Fred- 
ericksburg, and the noble spirit displayed by its 
citizens, particularly the women and children, has 
elicited my highest admiration. They have been 
abandoning their homes night and day during all 
this inclement weather, cheerfully and uncomplain- 
ingly, with only such assistance as our wagons and 
ambulances could afford. Women, girls, and chil- 
dren, trudging through the mud, and bivouacking in 

the open fields 

" Believe me alwa3^s, your father, 

"R. E. Lee." 

The battle of Fredericksburg — one of the blood- 
iest of the war — soon followed. The Confederates 
had the advantage of position, and their numbers 
were twice as great as at Sharpsburg; still the 
enemy outnumbered them two to one. General 
Burnside's force, in round numbers, is estimated at 
a liundred thousand ; * General Lee's, at fifty 
thousand. 

It was first necessary to move the Federal host 
across the Rappahannock. To obstruct this at- 
tempt, General Lee had stationed Barksdale's bri- 
gade along the Fredericksburg shore ; and so effec- 
tive was their fire, that the pontooneers, after making 
many efforts to complete their work, were repulsed 

■5^ Northern authority. 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 159 

and forced to fall back. Then, in desperation, the 
Federal commander gave orders to bombard the 
city. The murderous fire passed over the heads 
of the soldiers, who were too near the shore for it 
to harm them, tore up the streets, churches, and 
dwelling-houses, driving the defenceless inhabitants 
to seek refuge in cellars or flee to the open country. 
An eye-witness says : " Men, women, and children 
were driven from the town, and hundreds of ladies 
and children were seen wandering, homeless and 
without shelter, over the frozen highway, in thin 
clothing, not knowing where to find a place of 
refuge." 

Finding that the bombardment did not accom- 
plish their object, a detachment of troops was sent 
over in the face of the Confederate fire. They suc- 
ceeded in driving the Confederates from their shel- 
ter. The work now proceeded ; the pontoons were 
laid, and by the evening of the 12th the whole 
army was on the other side ready to give battle. 
General Lee occupied the heights back of the town, 
a rough and open plain separating the opposing 
forces. On the right of the Confederate line lay 
Jackson's corps; to the left, on Marye's Hill — 
which was to become so famous from this day — 
were the forces under Lon2:street ; in the j&elds on 
the extreme right, Stuart was stationed with his 
horse-artillery, the nature of the ground not allow- 
ing the use of cavalry. The attack opened upon the 



160 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

Confederate right. Meade's division was brought 
up to assail this strong position, and driven hack 
with terrihle slaughter. As they advanced, Pelham, 
the boy-artillerist, whose genius and gallantry were 
to w^in for him a name on the roll of Southern 
heroes, kept them in check for two hours, until 
his last round was fired. Battery after battery was 
brought up to silence him ; but he stood firmly to 
his post, while the maimed and dying fell around, 
until positive orders were sent to him to retire. 
General Lee, who witnessed this gallant conduct, 
exclaimed with enthusiasm, " It is glorious to see 
such courage in one so young ! " * 

It was of this repulse of Meade by Jackson, in 
Avhich the former is said to have '' lost forty out of 
every hundred men," that General Lee is reported 
to have said, as he watched the flying foe, ^' It is 
well this is so terrible ; we would grow too fond 
of it ! " 

Of his own deportment on the field of battle, an 
English correspondent writes, in reference to this 
day : "It would be presumptuous in me to say one 
word in commendation of the serenity, or, if I may 
so express it, the unconscious dignity of General 
Lee's courage when he is under fire. 'No one who 
sees and knows his demeanor in ordinary life 
w^ould expect anything else from one so calm, so 
undemonstrative and unassuming. But the de- 

* Hammer and Rapier. 



1862.] GENERAL EGBERT E. LEE. 161 

scription applied, after the battle of the Alma, to 
Lord Raglan, by Marshal St. Arnand, and in which, 
noticing Lord Raglan's unconsciousness under fire, 
he speaks of his ' antique heroism,' seems to me so 
applicable to General Lee that I cannot forbear 
recalling it here." * 

To return to Fredericksburg. After the assault 
upon Jackson had failed, the whole energy of the 
Federal commander was directed to the attack upon 
Longstreet. By divisions, six times in succession, 
the forces of Burnside were hurled upon the bris- 
tling front of Marye's Hill, and six times they fell 
back, shattered and bleeding. IsTever had the Fed- 
eral forces fought so gallantly, never had courage 
and desperation been so hopeless. But Burnside, 
in the madness of defeat, had vowed that this crest 
must be carried that night. 

Pollard, in his account of this assault, says: " The 
simile so commonly used in descriptions of battles, 
of waves breaking upon a rock-bound coast, was 
never more just in its conception than in the frantic 
battle in which the Federal divisions were shat- 
tered upon the heights assailed, and were hurled 
back, one after the other, on the crimson tide of 
death." 

The crest was not carried when night came, and 
the battle was over. 

The Confederate loss was not much over four 

* McCabe's Life of Lee. 
14* L 



162 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

thousand, while that of the Federals was more than 
twelve thousand, killed, wounded, and missing. 
Less than half of the Confederate army had been 
brought into action. 

General Lee sent the following despatch announc- 
ing the victory : 

"December 13th. .* 

" To General Cooper, A. A. General. | 

"At nine o'clock this morning the enemy at- 
tacked our right wing, and, as the fog lifted, the 
battle ran along the whole line, from right to left, 
until six p. M., the enemy being repulsed at all 
points. Thanks be to God ! As usual, we have to 
mourn the loss of many of our brave men. I ex- 
pect the battle to be renewed at daylight to-morrow 

E. E. Lee." 



1862.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 163 



CHAPTER XV. 

The Federal Army recrosses the Rappahannock — General Lee's 
Address to his Army — Winter in Camp — "The Mud March" 
— Burnside's Resignation — Hooker in Command. 

fl^HE next clay General Lee anticipated another 
J- battle ; but the demoralization * of the Federal 
army was so great that it was not deemed expedient 
to risk another attack. On the contrary, it was 
expected that the Confederates would assume the 
offensive. This Avas in accordance with General 
Jackson's views; but General Lee, not realizing 
that the defeat of the enemy had been so complete, 
thought it more prudent to await him in their pres- 
ent strong position, rather than expose his troops to 
the powerful batteries on the Stafford Heights. He 
says: 

" The attack on the 13th had been so easily re- 
pulsed, and by so small a part of our army, that it 
was not supposed the enemy would limit his efforts 
to one attempt, which, in view of the magnitude of 

* " That the morale of the Army of the Potomac became seriously 
impaired after the disaster of Fredericksburg was only too mani- 
fest. Indeed it would be impossible to imagine a graver, or 
gloomier, a more sombre or unmusical body of men than the Army 
of the Potomac a month after the battle ; and as the days went 
by, despondency, discontent, and all evil inspirations, with their 
natural consequent desertion, seemed to increase rather than to 
diminish, until, for the first time, the Army of the Potomac could 
be said to be really demoralized.^^ — Swinton. 



164 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

his preparations and tlie extent of his force, seemed 
to be comparatively insignificant. Believing, there- 
fore, that he would attack us, it was not deemed 
expedient to lose the advantages of our position 
and expose the troops to the fire of his inaccessible 
batteries beyond the river, by advancing against 
him. But we were necessarily ignorant of the 
extent to which he had suffered, and only became 
aware of it when, on the evening of the 16th, it 
was discovered that he had availed himself of the 
darkness of the night, and the prevalence of a vio- 
lent storm of wind and rain, to recross the river." 

Had he pushed forward, however, there is every 
reason to suppose that he might have completed 
the destruction of the invading army. This could 
not be known then ; and his course was, therefore, 
the wisest and most prudent under the circum- 
stances. 

General Burn side desired to make another as- 
sault, which he planned to lead in person, in order 
to retrieve his fame, and restore the waning confi- 
dence of his troops. A final attempt to carry Ma- 
rye's Hill was what he contemplated. But he was 
deterred, by the advice and remonstrances of all his 
general officers, from a venture likely to prove as 
fatal and useless as those that had preceded it. 

It became evident that all hostile demonstrations 
were over for the present, and the army now pro- 
ceeded to go into winter-quarters. 

General Lee issued the following address to his 



18G2.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 165 

soldiers at tliis time, on the subject of their late 
successes : 

"Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, 
December 31, 1862. 

" The General commanding takes this occasion 
to express to the officers and soldiers of the army 
his high appreciation of the fortitude, valor, and 
devotion displayed by them, which, under the 
blessing of Almighty God, have added the victory 
of Fredericksburg to their long list of triumphs. 

"An arduous march, performed with celerity un- 
der many disadvantages, exhibited the discipline 
and spirit of the troops, and their eagerness to con- 
front the foe. 

" The immense army of the enemy completed its 
preparations for the attack without interruption, 
and gave battle in its own time and on ground of 
its own selection. 

" It was encountered by less than twenty thou- 
sand of this brave army, and its columns, crushed 
and broken, hurled back at every point, with such 
fearful slaughter that escape from entire destruc- 
tion became the boast of those who had advanced 
in full confidence of victory. 

" That this great result was achieved with a loss 
small in point of numbers only augments the admi- 
ration with wdiich the Commanding General re- 
gards the prowess of the troops, and increases his 
gratitude to Him ' who hath given us the victory.' 

'•' The war is not yet ended. The enemy is still 
numerous and strong, and the country demands of 
the army a renewal of its heroic efforts in her 



106 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1862. 

beliiilf. ISTobly has it responded to Ler call in tlie 
past, and she will never appeal in vain to its cour- 
age and patriotism. 

" The signal manifestations of Divine mercy that 
have distinguished the eventful and glorious cam- 
paign of the year just closing, give assurance of 
hope, that, under the guidance of the same Al- 
mighty hand, the coming year will be no less fruit- 
ful of events that will insure the safety, peace, and 
happiness of our beloved country, and add new 
lustre to the already imperishable name of the 
Army of ^N^orthern Virginia. 

" R. E. Lee, General." 

The army remained near Fredericksburg during 
the winter, which was intensely cold. The suffer- 
ings of the soldiers were great. General Lee 
shared the privations of the men, and refused to 
make his headquarters in a dwelling, though one 
was near at hand, until after a severe indisposition, 
when the positive orders of his physician forced 
him to do so. He is described, by an English gen- 
tleman who visited him about this time, as sur- 
rounded with none of the pomp and ceremony found 
in European camps, although always treated with 
profound respect, and looked upon as the father of 
his soldiers by those who knew him best. By the 
men, generally, he was called " Uncle Robert,'* or 
" Mass Rob," in the familiar and affectionate lan- 
guage which spoke the devotion of his adoring 
troops. 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 167 

Many of the soldiers were again without shoes. 
General Lee urged upon the Government the ne- 
cessity of providing them, even if they were forced 
to seize the stock in the hands of speculators. He 
also wrote to the Department on the importance of 
increasing the army. His forces had been much 
diminished by the call for troops to defend the 
menaced points on the coasts of ]N"orth Carolina and 
Virginia, and at Charleston, which was at that time 
threatened. 

The winter passed away with only one event of 
interest to mark the vicinity of the enemy. This 
was what was afterwards known in the annals of 
the Federal campaign as the " Mud march." 

On the 19th of January, the attempt was made 
to cross the Rappahannock at Banks's ford, above 
Fredericksburg, in order to make a final effort to 
drive Lee from his position, and force him to fall 
back upon Richmond. 

In the expectation that the weather, which had 
up to this time been favorable to their plans, would 
continue good, Burnside ordered forward Hooker's 
and Franklin's divisions. On the night of the 20th, 
however, a storm came up, which left the roads in 
such condition as to make an advance impossible. 
Every effort to bring up the pontoons failed ; * the 

*" Herculean efforts were made to bring pontoons enough into 
position to build a bridge or two withal. Double and triple teams 
of horses and mules were harnessed to each boat ; but it was in 



168 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

mud was an adversary not counted upon, and not 
easily resisted. Even the foot- soldiers could not 
march through the quagmires ; it was found an im- 
possible task. The roads would be impracticable 
until spring, so the attempt was abandoned. 

Baffled and chagrined at this last discomfiture, 
Burnside ascribed it in part to the delay occasioned 
by the inimical disposition of his Generals. He re- 
turned to "Washington, and sent in an order dismiss- 
ing some eight or nine of the most prominent among 

vain. Long stout ropes were then attached to the teams, and a 
hundred and fifty men put to the task on each. The effort was 
but little more successful. Floundering through the mire for a 
few feet, the gang of Liliputians, with their huge-ribbed Gulliver, 
were forced to give over, breathless. Night arrived, but the pon- 
toons could not be got up, and the enemy's pickets discovering 
what was going on, jocularly shouted out their intention to 'come 
over to-morrow and help build the bridges.' 

"Morning dawned upon another day of rain and storm. The 
ground had gone from bad to worse, and now showed such a spec- 
tacle as might be presented by the elemental wrecks of another 
Deluge. An indescribable chaos of pontoons, vehicles, and artil- 
lery encumbered all the roads — supply-wagons upset by the road- 
side, guns stalled in the mud, ammunition-trains mired by the 
way, and hundreds of horses and mules buried in the liquid muck. 
The army, in fact, was embargoed: it was no longer a question 
of how to go forward, it was a question of how to get back. The 
three days' rations brought on the persons of the men were ex- 
hausted, and the supply-trains could not be moved up. To aid 
the return, all the available force was put to work to corduroy the 
rotten roads. Next morning the army floundered and staggered 
back to the old camps, and so ended a movement that will always 
live in the recollection of the army as the 'Mud march,' and 
which remains a striking exemplification of the enormous difficul- 
ties incident to winter campaigning in Virginia." — Swinton. 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 169 

tliem, which, in case the President failed to approve, 
was to be repLaced by his own resignation. 

Mr. Lincohi accepted the latter alternative, ai\,d 
in place of Burnside, resigned, appointed to take 
eomiiiand of the troops the foremost man on the 
list of those he had desis-ned to diso-race. This was 
*^ fighting Joe Hooker," as he was popularly called 
by liis admiring compatriots. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Hooker's Campaign — Kelly's Ford — Death of Pelbam — The 
Battle of Chaucellorsville — Jackson's Flank Movement in "The 
Wilderness " — Jackson Wounded. 

I^HE winter passed away in comparative quiet. 
- General Hooker used every exertion to increase 
and make effective the army under his control. 
The cavalry was reorganized and made more effi- 
cient than it had been since the beginning of the 
war. His whole force was not less than 150,000 
men. He boasted that it was " the finest army on 
the planet," so well was it equipped and provided. 
General Lee's army, on the contrary, was much 
weakened in numbers, and always but poorly sup- 
plied. It had been necessary to send General Long- 
street in February to watch t]ie movements of the 
enemy south of the Janiea River, on the opening 



170 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

of the spring campaign; therefore General Lee's 
whole force amounted to but 45,000 men. 
•■^ In March the enemy commenced active opera- 
tions by detaching a body of cavalry under Averill 
to ascertain Lee's strength, and cut off, if possible, 
Ms communications with Gordonsville. To meet 
this reconnoissance, General Stuart sent forward 
General Fitz-Lee's Brigade, and an engagement took 
place at Kelb/s Ford. Averill w\as obliged to retire 
and abandon the expedition. Eight hundred men 
had confronted and driven back three thousand. 

Cooke, in \\i^ . Hammer and Rapier, says of this 
affair : " An eye-witness compared Fitz-Lee's little 
band to a small bull-dog jumping at the throat of a 
big mastiff — ever shaken off by his powerful adver- 
sary, but ever returning to the struggle, until the 
larger animal's strength was worn out." 

Here fell the " gallant Pelham," while leading a 
charge, which event will make memorable in South- 
ern annals the name of Kelly's Ford. 

Nothing further was attempted until April, when 
Hooker made arrangements for a general advance. 
He went forward full of confidence in himself and 
in his troops, whom he had pronounced vastly 
superior, intellectually and physically, to the Con- 
federates 1 

He knew that General Longstreet had been sent 
off, and was desirous to strike his decisive blow 
while the Southern forces were thus divided. And 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E LEE. 171 

his programme seemed to promise tlie success he 
coveted. His plan was to cross the greater part of 
his troops over the liappaliaimock at Kelly's Ford, 
occupy Chancellorsville, and advance upon Lee 
from this point. A portion of his command, in 
the meanwhile — "equal in numhers to General 
Lee's whole army" — was to take possession of 
Fredericksburg, and, while Hooker engaged Lee 
before Chancellorsville, storm Marye's Heights, 
and, co-operating with Hooker, close in upon Lee 
from the opposite direction. The cavalry — ten 
thousand in number — under Stoneman, were to 
scour the country about Gordonsville, cut off the 
railroads, and thus prevent Longstreet from coming 
to Lee's assistance. 

The condition of General Lee seemed indeed 
perilous; but the great leader was equal to the 
emergency.* General Jackson was first ordered 
forward to skirmish with the enemy and force him 
to make a stand as near to Chancellorsville as pos- 
sible. General Lee had decided to accept the battle 
just here, as the only means of escaping the " cor- 
don " which surrounded him. 

Chancellorsville consists of but a single dwelling- 
house and a few small buildings beyond it. Be- 
tween Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, a few 

^ " Leo, with instant perception of the situation, now seized the 
masses of liis fnice, and witli the grasp of a Titnn, swung them into 
po«ition as a ginnt might iling a stone from a sling '" — Su-into7i. 



172 A POPUI.AR LIFE OF [1863. 

miles from the latter place, the o^rvomid is open aiul 
high, and well adapted for the movements of an 
armed force. In every other direction from Chan- 
cellorsville, the "AVilderness" — a region of marshy 
gronnd, full of undergrowth and forests of stunted 
pines — stretched for miles away, a lonely and des- 
olate country, unsuited, apparently, for the pur- 
poses of a battle-ground. General Lee recognized 
the importance of obtaining possession of the ele- 
vated ground instead of leaving it for General 
Hooker, and for this purpose sent General Jackson 
forward to dispute his advance. Contrary to the 
remonstrances of his officers. Hooker, upon the 
approach of the Confederates, fell back, massing 
his troops at Cliancellorsville, where he awaited 
Lee's attack. His riglit stretched out towartls 
Orange County, his left was protected by the river. 
General Lee, fully aware of the risk attending a 
direct assault upon the front of the enemy's strongly 
intrenched position, with his own inferior forces, 
resolved upon a movement which a great IN'orthern 
critic calls " astonishingly bold." This was to send 
General Jackson to make an attack upon Hooker's 
right from the rear, Avhile he made a feint in front. 

" The plan, tliough full of risk, was immediately 
adopted by Lee, and as a matter of course, its exe- 
cution committed to his daring Lieutenant, who was 
destined in the climax of his power to end his 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 173 

career in the world and the world's wars in this 
supreme exhibition of mihtary genius." * 

On the 2d of May, General Jackson commenced 
his silent march, while General Lee made demon- 
strations upon the enemy's left, disposing his troops 
so adroitly as to succeed in his purpose of deceiving 
General Hooker as to a general attack. 

Jackson, practising his favorite maxim, " Mystery 
is the secret of success," had used every precaution 
to keep the knowledge of his approach from the 
unsuspecting foe. Hooker's being without cavalry, 
as has been remarked by an historian of the war, 
made the surprise less difficult of accomplishment. 
Passing over a hill, the column was seen by Gen- 
eral Sickles, who had been sent forward to recon- 
noitre, and coming upon a Georgia regiment after 
the rest of the column had passed, he took them all 
prisoners. Jackson was known to have moved 
southward, and a bend in the road gave his march 
the appearance of a retreat towards Richmond. 
Hooker, overjoyed, wrote exultingly, '^ We know 
the enemy is flying, trying to save his trains." So 
little did he imagine the true state of the case. 

At five o'clock that evening, Jackson was storm- 
ing the camp of the astonished Federals, who had 
been cooking their suppers away from their arms, 
and totally unprepared for the attack. 

The corps of General Howard was completely 

* Swinton. 
15* 



174 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

routed ; they were driven back, flying, beaten, and 
demoralized, to the Rappaiiannock. 

General Jackson rode into the flglit at the head 
of his troops. " He leaned forward on his horse, 
extending his arm far in front, as though he wished 
' to push tiie men forward,' and his voice was heard 
exchiiming, ' Press forward ! press forward ! ' every 
feAv minutes, during the entire attack. When not 
thus mastered by the ardor of battle, his riglit hand 
was raised aloft with that gesture now familiar to 
his men, as though he were praying to the God of 
battles for victory." * It was his last great charge, 
this stormy contest in the Wilderness — the crown- 
ing glory of his marvellous achievements ! 

By night, the Southern forces were close upon 
Hooker's headquarters. Here they became entan- 
gled in the felled trees and brushwood that pro- 
tected the Federal works. In the darkness, some 
confusion ensued; men and officers could not recog- 
nize their own commands. It became necessary to 
halt and bring the ranks into order. Hooker took 
advantage of this pause, and opened a fierce fire on 
the woods which the Confederates had gained. At 
ten o'clock. General Jackson rode forward to ex- 
amine the position. In his anxiety to make him- 
self fully aware of the condition of affairs, he went 
far beyond his own lines. 

Orders had been given to the Confederates to 

* Cooke's Life of Jackson. 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 175 

fire upon cavalry coming from the enemy's direc- 
tion. As Jackson returned, having neglected to 
give warning of his purpose, he was mistaken for 
the foe. The fatal fire of his hrave soldiers was di- 
rected full upon the little group. All but two were 
killed or wounded. General Jackson had received 
three shots, — two in the arm, and one in his right 
hand. It was a terrible moment; the fire from the 
enemy's batteries lit up the solemn woods, and fell 
with a lurid light on the pale face of the great 
chieftain. Supported between his two aids, he made 
his way through his own lines. At length a litter 
was procured. The fire of the enemy increased in 
violence; one of the litter-bearers fell, wounded in 
both arms; it was necessary to pause until its fury 
had abated. 

As the slow progress was made through his old 
troops, inquiring glances turned upon them. Who 
was this, so mysteriously and jealously shielded 
from view ? To all questions came the one answer, 
'A Confederate oflicer.' At length one of the Old 
Brigade caught a glimpse of the well-known face. 
' Great God ! ' he exclaimed, ' that is General Jack- 
son ! ' 

General Lee, when the news reached him of this 
misfortune, expressed with great feeling his relief, 
and thankfulness that it was " no worse." " Any 
victory," he added, " is a dear one that deprives 
us of the services of Jackson, even for a short 
time." 



176 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863 

He afterwards wrote him the following aflection- 
ate and heroic words : 

" General : — I have just received your note, in- 
forming me that you were wounded. I cannot ex- 
press my regret at the occurrence. Could I have 
directed events, I should have chosen, for the good 
of the country, to have been disabled in your stead. 
I congratulate you upon the victory which is due to 
your skill and energy." 

When General Jackson received this note, he 
made the following characteristic reply : " General 
Lee is very kind ; but he should give the glory to 
God." 

In a few days the ivorst had come. General Lee 
had lost his "right arm" — the immortal Jackson. 
"He fell like the eagle," as was said of him by one 
hardly less illustrious, "his own feather on the shaft 
that was dripping with his life-blood." * 

* Dr. Craven's Prison-Life of Davis. 



1863.] G E X E R A L R O B E R T E . L E E . 177 



CHAPTER XYII. 

Stuart in Conirn.-md of Jackson's Covps — The IJattlo rosnmed — • 
"The Wilderness" on Fire — The Victory — General Lee's 
Address to the Army — Death of Jackson announced in General 
Ordei's — Letter from General Lee. 



J 



ACKSOlsr had fallen in the stress and heat of 
^^ conflict. The messenger who hronght to Gen- 
eral Lee the news of this disaster, added, that he 
helieved it had heen General Jackson s intention to 
press the enemy on Smidaj. " These people shall 
he pressed to-day," was General Lee's instant re- 
joinder. Hill, second in command to Jackson, was 
wounded also, and to Stuart, the successful cavalry 
officer, had fallen the task of completing the work 
so well begun. 

The loss of their beloved commander filled the 
troops with fury instead of dampening their ardor. 
"With the shout, " Remember Jackson ! " they threw 
themselves fiercel}^ into the charge. 

Mingled with the cry of vengeance for the fallen 
hero, there arose another, in strange and humorous 
contrast. The laughing tones of the gay cavalier 
Stuart were heard singing, as he made the charge, 
*' Old Joe Hooker, will you come out of the Wilder- 



ness i 



t " 



This brave general, so distinguished as a cavahy 
leader, was now to prove himself not unworthy as 

M 



178 



A POPULAR LIFE OF 



[1863. 



an infantry officer, to command the soldiers of 
Stonewall Jackson. 

For a while, despite the impetuosity of the assault, 
it seemed as if the day would go against them. 
The ammunition gave out, and they were ordered 
to use the bayonet; but this proved needless. The 
enemy were falling back. 

General Lee in the meanwhile was engaged in 
front, slowly forcing his way to a junction with 
Stuart. This accomplished, his whole army charged 
upon the works at Chancellorsville. Four times 




Battle of Chancellorsville. 



18G3.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 179 

they were lost and won, but at length victory settled 
upon the banners of Lee.* 

" The scene was horrible at this moment. The 
woods, which were full of wounded, had been set 
on iire by the shells, and the fierce flames were 
roaring around the helpless sufferers, many of 
whom perished in this terrible manner. The Chan- 
cellorsville house was in a bright blaze, and the 
clearing was full of smoke and nre. The shouts of 
the combatants, the crash of musketry, the heavy 
discharges of artillery, and the fierce crackling of 
the flames, all gave wild and terrible grandeur to 
the scene, such as is seldom witnessed even on a 
battle-field. " f 

■^ A Northern writer, who witnessed this combined attack, says: 
"The enemy could be seen, sweeping slowly but confidently, 
determinedly but surely, through the clearings which extended 
in front. Nothing could excite more admiration for the qualities 
of the veteran soldiers than the manner in which the enemy 
swept out, as they moved steadily onward, the forces which were 
opposed to them. We say it reluctantly, and for the first time, 
that the enemy have shown the finest qualities, and we acknowl- 
edge on this occasion their superiority in the open field to our 
own men. They delivered their fire with precision, and were ap- 
parently inflexible and immovable under the storm of bullets and 
shell which they were constantly receiving. Coming to a piece 
of timber, which was occupied by a division of our own men, 
half the number were detailed to clear the woods. It seemed 
certain that here they would be repulsed, but they marched right 
through the wood, driving our own soldiers out, who delivered 
their fire and fell back, halted again, fired, and fell back as be- 
fore, seeming to concede to the enemy, as a matter of course, the 
superiority which they evidently felt themselves. Our own men 
fought well. There was no lack of courage, but an evident feel- 
ing that they were destined to be beaten, and the only thing for 
them to do was to fire and retreat." 

f McCabe's Life of Lee. 



180 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863, 

Hooker retreated to a strong line in rear of 
Chancellorsville, which did not look as if he had 
ever really expected to " be after them." Lee re- 
solved to attack this position also, and force him to 
retreat across the river. 

But at this moment tidings reached him which 
demanded a new line of action. Sedgwick had 
captured Marye's Heights, and was marching upon 
Early at Salem Church. This, if taken, would put 
Lee's position in peril. 

The gallant Mississippi Brigade, under Barks- 
dale, with a portion of the Washington Artillery, 
had withstood bravely the attack on ^larye's 
Heights. Three times two thousand men had re- 
sisted the Federal advance, but at length a Hank 
movement compelled them to evacuate the posi- 
tion. Falling back slowly, fighting as they re- 
treated, they reached Early. It was at this mo- 
ment that Lee heard of the danger threatening him, 
and he immediately dispatched McLaw's division 
to check Sedgwick's advance. 

" The course which he adopted in this emer- 
gency was precisely that prescribed by the highest 
principles of war — the principles on which Caesar, 
and Gustavus, and Frederick fought battles; but 
it was a course very bold — unusually bold for the 
cautious and methodical mind of the Confederate 
commander." * 

*Swinton's Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac. 



1863.] GENERAL KOBERT E. LEE. 181 

General Wilcox was at Salem Church when the 
brigade sent by General Lee joined him. An 
action ensued, known as the battle of Salem 
Church, in wliicli Sedgwick was driven back with 
great loss, while Hooker remained behind his in- 
trenchments, guarded by Jackson's corps. 

Hooker's plans were now entirely frustrated, and 
he fell back to the north bank of the river. 

The losses at Chancellorsville were, it is com- 
puted, on the Federal side not less than 25,0^0 
men. The Confederates lost 10,000, but among 
them was Jackson. This was an irremediable dis- 
aster. It cast its shadow over the land, making 
the victory count as little in the scale. 

It was felt ])y all that a great force had been sud- 
denly, mysteriously withdrawn from the fabric of 
the struggling nationality. From that hour to the 
end, on Lee alone rested the burden which only 
Jackson had been competent to share. 

The following congratulatory address was issued 
while Jackson yet lay, as it was thought, only dan- 
gerously wounded : 

"Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, 
May 7, 1863. 
" General Order, ^o. 5. 

" With heartfelt gratification the General com- 
manding expresses to the army his sense of the 
heroic conduct displayed b}^ officers and men during 
the arduous operations in which they have just been 
engaged. 

16 



182 



A POPULAR LIFE OF 



[18G3. 



"Under trying vicissitudes of heat and storm you 
attacked the enemy, strongly intrenched in the 
depths of a tangled wilderness, and again on the 
hills of Fredericksburg, fifteen miles distant, and 
by the valor that has triumphed on so many fields, 
forced him once more to seek safety beyond the 
Rappahannock. Wliile this glorious victory enti- 
tles you to the praise and gratitude of the nation, 
we are especially called upon to return our grateful 
thanks to the only Giver of victory for the signal 
deliverance He has wrought. 

" It is therefore earnestly recommended that the 
troops unite on Sunday next in ascribing unto the 
Lord of hosts the glory due unto His name. 

"Let us not forget, in our rejoicing, the brave 
soldiers who have fallen in the defence of their 
country ; and while we mourn their loss, let us re- 
solve to emulate their noble example. 

" The army and the country alike lament the ab- 
sence for a time of one to whose bravery, energy, 
and skill they are so much indebted for success. 

" The foUowino^ letter from the President of the 
Confederate States is communicated to the army, as 
an expression of his appreciation of their success : 

" ^ I have received your despatch, and reverently 
unite with you in giving praise to God for the suc- 
cess with which He has crowned our arms. In the 
name of the people, I ofier my cordial thanks to 
yourself and the troops under your command for 
this addition to the unprecedented series of great 
victories which our army has achieved. The uni- 
versal rejoicing produced by this happy result will 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E.LEE. 183 

be mingled with a general regret for the good and 
brave who are numbered among the killed and 
wounded.' R. E. Lee, General." 

A few days later, General Lee issued this order, 
announcing the death of his great Lieutenant : 

" Headquarters Army Northern Virginia, 
" May 11, 1863. 
" General Order, l^o. 61. 

" With deep grief, the commanding General an- 
nounces to the army the death of Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral T. J. Jackson, who expired on the 10th instant, 
at quarter past three p. m. The daring skill and 
energy of this great and good soldier, by the de- 
cree of an all-wise Providence, are now lost to us. 
But while we mourn his death, we feel that his 
spirit still lives, and will inspire the whole army 
with his indomitable courage and unshaken confi- 
dence in God as our hope and strength. Let his 
name be a watchword to his corps, who have fol- 
lowed him to victory on so many fields. Let his 
officers and soldiers emulate his invincible determi- 
nation to do everything in the defence of our be- 
loved country. K. E. Lee, General." 

General Lee thus wrote of this event to one of 
his family : 

''Camp Fredericksburg, May 11, 1863. 
". . . . In addition to the death of officers and 
friends consequent upon the late battle, you will see 
we have to mourn the loss of the great and good 



184 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

Jackson. Any victory would be dear at sucli a 
price. His remains go to Richmond to-day. I 
know not how to replace him ; but God's will be 
done ! I trust He will raise some one in his place. 
The papers will give you all the particulars ; I have 
no time to narrate them." 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

Cavalry Fight at Brandy Station — Marching Northward — Milroy 
driven from Winchester — Crossing the Frontier — Hooker re- 
signs — Meade in Command — General Lee's Strict Orders for 
Protection of Private Property — Exemplary Conduct of the 
Southern Troops. 

rriHE condition of affairs at this time in the South 
-*- and Southwest was far from encouraging. 
General Bragg had suffered repeated reverses. 
Pemberton was shut up in Yicksburg, besieged by 
Grant, with no hope of rescue. The two great 
objects of the Federal Government — the capture 
of Vicksburg, which would give them entire con- 
trol of the Mississippi River, and the possession of 
the Confederate capital — divided the energies and 
resources of the l!Torthern armies. 

It was proposed at this juncture, during the 
month of May, to send Pickett's division to Mis- 
sissippi, to reinforce the struggling army there ; 
but upon the remonstrances of General Lee, the 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 185 

proposition was abandoned. There could 1)C no 
doubt as to the paramount importance of defending 
Richmond, and, as General Lee declared, it was a 
question betiveen Virginia and Mississippi. Upon his 
visiting Richmond, a short time afterwards, it was 
proposed that he should reinforce Bragg, so as to 
enable him to drive back Rosecrans, merely leav- 
ing in Virginia a sufficient force to retain the de- 
fensive ; or, by a forward movement into Pennsyl- 
vania, remove the pressure upon the Western army, 
and alarm the North for the safety of its own 
capital. 

The latter course Avas adopted. It offered many 
advantages : the country had long urged the expe- 
diency of making the enemy feel the war by carry- 
ing it into his own country, and the loheatjields of 
Pennsylvania presented an abundant source from 
whence to replenish the impoverished commissariat 
of the South. The morale of the Army of i^orthern 
Virginia had never been better than at this period. 
Its successes at Chancellorsville had inspired it with 
the utmost confidence in itself and in its leaders. 
It was now augmented b}^ the recall of Longstreet 
from i^orth Carolina, and a new disposition of its 
forces was made by the Commander-in-chief. Jack- 
son's old corps was given to General Ewell, and 
consisted of the divisions of Early, Rodes, and 
Johnson. A third corps was organized under A. 
P. Hill, embracing Anderson's, Pender's, and Ileth'a 

16* 



186 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

divisions. Longstreet's corps contained the divi- 
sions of McLaws, Hood, and Pickett. The whole 
force amounted to seventy thousand men, not in- 
cluding the cavalry, ten thousand strong. I^ever 
befoje had the Southern army been so nearly com- 
mensurate to that of its foes. 

Early in June General Lee was in motion. He 
was anxious to bUnd Hooker as to his actual de- 
signs, and for this purpose A. P. Hill was left in 
position on the Pappahannock, so as to make it 
appear that the army was still there. Longstreet 
was ordered to march to Culpepper, and Ewell w^as 
to follow him on the 4th or 5th. 

General Lee anticipated that Hooker would do 
one of two things, as soon as he ascertained that 
the Confederate army was moving : either advance 
upon Richmond — when Lee would he in his rear, 
and coukl then capture Washington; or else fiiU 
back to cover his capital, when Lee would then 
pursue unmolested his march into Maryland and 
Pennsylvania, across the Upper Potomac. 

On the 9th of June, a cavalry-fight took place 
between Stuart and Pleasanton, now in command 
of the Federal cavalry formerly under Stoneman. 
The latter were sent by Hooker to discover the 
movements of the Confederates, and were engaged 
by Stuart at Brandy Station. A fierce combat en- 
sued, in which the Federals were repulsed with a 
loss of four hundred prisoners, and several hun- 
dred killed and wounded. 



1863] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 187 

" Three times," says John Esten Cooke, in his 
account of the battle, " the enemy's guns were 
charged and captured ; three times the Confederates 
were furiously charged in turn, and the pieces re- 
captured by the enemy. A final charge of the gray 
cavalry carried all before it." But at this moment 
the enemy were heavily reinforced, and the condi- 
tion of the Confederates became perilous. "• Cav- 
alry were charging in every direction, and it was 
hard to 'tell friend from foe. Stuart was fighting, 
so to speak, from the centre outwards. The enemy 
were in his front, in his rear, and on both his flanks. 
If they closed in, apparently, he would be crushed as 
in a vice." The brigade of W. H. F. Lee, and part 
of Wade Hampton's division, under General Young 
of Georgia, coming up at this juncture, decided the 
fate of the day. They fought with sabres, and ere 
long the enemy were flying towards the river, and 
^' Stuart had won the greatest cavalry-fight of the 
w^ar." Stuart's loss was about ^\q hundred, in- 
cluding General W. H. F. Lee, wounded. 

Hooker concluded, from the presence of such a 
force at Culpepper, that an attack was contemplated 
on his rear ; he hesitated whether to cut oflF Hill at 
Fredericksburg, or await Lee where he was. 

Ewell in the meanwhile was pressing on to Win- 
chester, then under the rule of the tyrant Milroy, 
who had won an infamous notoriety by his brutal 
conduct to the unarmed and defenceless inhabitants 
of that district. 



188 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

On the 14th, the town was invested, the Federal 
works were carried by storm, and most of the gar- 
rison captured.* Milroy escaped, with a few of his 
officers, under cover of night. 

Colonel Freemautle, an English officer, who en- 
tered the town with Lee's main army not long after- 
wards, thus speaks of the condition of the citizens 
during the six months of Milroy 's rule : " During 
the whole of this time they could not legally buy 
an article of provisions without taking thd oath of 
allegiance, which they magnanimously refused to 
do. They were unable to hear a word of their 
male relations or friends, who were all in the 
Southern army; they were shut up in their houses 
after eight p. m., and sometimes deprived of light; 
and they were constantly subjected to the most hu- 
miliating insults, on pretence of searching the 
house for arms, documents, &c." 

Martinsburg and Berrjwille were also freed from 

■5^ Captain Chesney, Eoyal Engineei'S, in his interesting work, 
Campaigns in Virginia, Maryland, ^~c., ^c, says: "Tlie assault 
was made by Haye's Irisli brigade of Early's division, with a gal- 
lantry freely acknowledged by Northern eye-witnesses, and was 
entirely successful;" and he adds in a note, page 20, vol. ii.: 

" Tt has been remarkable throughout the war, that the Irish of 
all classes resident in the South have adopted the Confederate 
cause with the greatest ardor. Yet there were very few slave- 
owners among them. But, as Dicey has acutely observed, in his 
well-known work on the Federal States, 'It would be as absurd to 
assert that the slavery cause was only maintained in the South by 
the 400,000 holders of slaves, as to say that there were no sup- 
porters of the peerage in England but the thousand members or 
80 of the nobility themselves.' " 



I 



1863] GENERAL ROBERT E.LEE. 189 

Federal domination by tlie advancing troops, and 
in a short time the whole valley was open to the 
Confederates. 

When Ewell's movements were made known to 
Hooker, he perceived that he had mistaken Lee's 
purpose. He withdrew his army from the line of 
the Rappahannock, and took up his march towards 
Manassas. 

A. P. Hill, as soon as he was satisfied that the 
enemy had left Stafford, started forward to the val- 
ley. To protect his march, Longstreet was ordered 
to occupy the passes of the Blue Ridge. 

The three corps were thus in position to cross 
into the enemy's country, Hooker having been 
completely foiled by the strategy of the Southern 
leader. 

Great consternation prevailed in the ^tsTorth at the 
rumored approach of the Confederates. The mi- 
litia was called out in Pennsylvania and several 
other States, and the farmers drove their stock 
north of the Susquehanna, to be out of reach of the 
terrible Rebels. 

On the 22d of June, Ewell's corps crossed the 
Potomac near Shepherdstown, passing through 
Maryland into Pennsylvania, wdiere they occupied 
Chambersburg. 

Six days later. Hooker resigned his position, and 
General Meade was appointed commander-in-chief 
of the Federal forces, numbering one hundred and 



190 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

fifty thousancl men. Putting himself at their liead, 
and disposing them so as to cover both Baltimore 
and Washington, he moved rapidly forward to stop 
the progress of the Southern army. 

B}^ the 27th of June, the whole of the Confed- 
erate army was at Chambersburg. General Lee 
issued to it the same day the following address : 

"Headquarters Army Northern Virginia, 
"Chambersburg, Pa., June 27, 1868. 

'' General Order, ISTo. 73. 

^' The Commanding General has observed with 
marked satisfaction the conduct of the troops on 
the march, and confidently anticipates results com- 
mensurate with the high spirit they have man- 
ifested. 'No troops could have displayed greater 
fortitude or better performed the arduous marches 
of the past ten days. Their conduct in other re- 
spects has, with few exceptions, been in keeping 
with their character as soldiers, and entitles them 
to approbation and praise. 

" There have, however, been instances of forget- 
fulness on the part of some, that they have in keep- 
ing the yet unsullied reputation of the army, and 
that the duties exacted of us by civihzation and 
Christianit}^ are not less obligatory in the country 
of the enemy than in our own. 

" The Commanding General considers that no 
greater disgrace could befall the army, and through 
it our whole people, than the perpetration of the 
barbarous outrages upon the innocent and defence- 
less, and the wanton destruction of private property, 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 191 

tliat have marked the course of the enemy in our 
own country. Such proceedings not onl}^ disgrace 
the perpetrators and all connected with them, but 
are subversive of the discipline and efficiency of 
the army, and destructive of the ends of our pres- 
ent movements. It must be remembered that we 
make war only upon armed men, and that we can- 
not take vengeance for the wrongs our people have 
suffered without lowering ourselves in the eyes of 
all wdiose abhorrence has been excited by the atro- 
cities of our enemy, and offending against Him to 
whom vengeance belongeth, without whose favor 
and support our efforts must all prove in vain. 

" The Commanding General, therefore, earnestly 
exhorts the troops to abstain, with most scrupulous 
care, from unnecessary or wanton injury to private 
property; and he enjoins upon all officers to arrest 
and bring to summary punishment all who shall in 
any way offend against the orders on this subject. 

'' R. E. Lee, General." 

Colonel Freeraantle gives his testimony to the 
faithful manner in which these orders were carried 
out, in his account of the march : 

" I saw no straggling into the houses, nor were 
any of the inhabitants disturbed or annoj^ed by the 
soldiers. ... I went into Chambersburg again, and 
witnessed the singular good behavior of the troops 
towards the citizens. ... To one who has seen as 
I have the ravages of the N'orthern troops in South- 
ern towns, this forbearance seems most commend- 
able and surprising." 



192 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

One of the Southern officers, writing to his wife 
at this time, sajs : 

" I feit, when I first came here, that I would like 
to revenge myself upon these people for the devas- 
tation they have brought upon our own beautiful 
home — that home where we could have lived so 
happily, and that we loved so much, from which 
their vandalism lias driven you and my helpless 
little ones. But, though I had such severe wrongs 
and grievances to redress, and such great cause for 
revenge, yet, when I got among these people, I 
could not find it in my heart to molest them." 

And more than one correspondent of the North- 
ern journals at that time testified to the prompt 
obedience paid by the Southern troops to the orders 
of their beloved chief. Even a Pennsylvania farmer 
could declare : "I must say they acted like gentle- 
men, and, their cause aside, I would rather have 
forty thousand Rebels quartered on my premises 
than one thousand Union troops." 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 193 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The Army in Pennsylvania — General Lee Embarrassed for Want 
of Cavalry — Gettysburg — First Day — Hancock remains in 
Possession of Cemetery llidge — Second Day — Attempts upon 
the Right and Left — Third Day — Pickett's Famous Charge 
upon the Centre — La Garde Recule! 

GEXERAL LEE was now about to march upon 
Harrisburg, when news reached him of the 
rapid advance of the Federal army, arresting his 
progress, and causing him some anxiety about the 
safety of his communications. 

The want of cavalry had been severely felt, as 
without it, it was impossible to obtain reliable in- 
formation as to the movements of his adversary. 
Stuart was still many miles away, the Federal army 
between himself and Lee. He had received orders 
which, if faithfully carried out, would have mate- 
rially assisted General Lee in his operations. Gen- 
eral Lee, with his usual forbearance, attaches no 
blame to Stuart,* who represents himself as una- 
voidably compelled, by the movements of Hooker, 
to take the long and circuitous route which brought 
him to General Lee's side too late to be of any ser- 
vice. The latter had depended greatly oii Stuart's 
co-operation. " His anxiety was extreme," writes 
one of his biographers; "all his staft-officers ob- 

* Pollard's Lee and his Lieutenants. 
17 N 



194 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

served the troubled look in liis face, as day after 
day, and at last hour after hour, he inquired for 
* news from Stuart.' The phrase at headquarters 
was, ' We are hungry for cavalry.' . . . The situa- 
tion was one in which General Lee found himself 
in the mountains of Pennsylvania, with the eyes of 
his army put out, not knowing wdiere the enemy 
was, or where w^ould be the field of battle, com- 
pelled to grope his way to whatever issue accident 
might determine." * 

To Gettysburg — an important centre where sev- 
eral roads met — the two armies were noV gravi- 
tating. Meade arrived first. It was not his pur- 
pose to remain there; but the advance of the 
Confederates, driving in Buford's cavalry, com- 
pelled the Federal troops to make a stand at the 
town. Reynolds, commanding the Federal first 
corps, came to the support of the cavalry. Form- 
ing in line of battle, they received the attack of 
the Confederates, and were forced back ; but rally- 

* " In General Lee's official report he makes no complaint of the 
disappointment of the campaign by the absence of Stuart's cav- 
alry column ; and, indeed, this circumstance was, until recently, 
lost to history. General Lee was always very abstinent of cen- 
sure of his officers, and he once remarked that he could never 
consider himself at liberty to make reference, in his official 
reports, to a fault of an officer, unless it had been found and 
established by a court-martial. Despite General Stuart's abun- 
dant record of glorious services, he is said to have deeply re- 
gretted his failure to get his cavalry in position to serve as de- 
signed in the campaign, and to have been aifected by the disap 
pointment to the day of his death.' — Lee and his Lieutenants. 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 195 

mg again under General Reynolds in person, tliey 
in turn drove back the Confederates. General 
Reynolds lost Lis life in the action, and several 
hundred Confederates were taken prisoners, in- 
cluding Brigadier-General Archer. 

Brigades were now moved up on either side, the 
two armies hastening to confront each other. The 
struggle continued with varying success until three 
o'clock, when, Early's division arriving, an impet- 
uous attack was made by him on the Federal right, 
Rodes charging the centre. The Federal line was 
broken, a general advance followed, and the Fed- 
eral troops were driven in confusion through the 
town, with a loss of five thousand prisoners and 
several pieces of artillery. For a short distance 
the Confederates followed the retreating foe, wdien 
an order came to stop the pursuit. Thus Hancock, 
who had succeeded Reynolds, gained time to collect 
his scattered troops and intrench himself on Cem- 
etery Hill, a position so strong and impregnable, it 
was of the utmost importance that he should have 
been dislodged while it was yet possible to do so. 

The fortunate moment passed away. Meade's 
Lieutenant had seized upon the key of the situation. 
On the night of the 1st of July it was no longer 
doubtful with which side rested the advantage of 
position. 

" Cemetery Ridge," on which the Federal army 
was intrenched, is a long line of hills running 



196 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

south of Gettysburg. Bending eastward, it termi- 
nates to the right in Gulp's Hill, and southward 
it culminates • in the jagged crest of Eound Top 
Hill. Here rested Meade's left. On Gulp's Hill, 
four miles distant, stretched the Federal right. 

About a mile and a half apart, on a lower but 
parallel ridge, lay encamped the forces of Lee. 
Ewell's corps on the left, A. P. Hill in the centre ; 
Longstreet facing Round Top, occupied the Gon- 
federate right. 

On the morning of the 2d of July, the two armies 
thus confronted each other. The day wore away, 
and neither side seemed disposed to begin the at- 
tack. Evidently Meade had no intention of coming 
out from his stronghold to assume the offensive. 
Was it not therefore advisable for General Lee to 
decline fighting under such disadvantages, by with- 
drawing his forces and manoeuvring for a more 
favorable position ? 

He thought otherwise, and has given the reasons 
which determined his subsequent action, in these 
words : 

"It had not been intended to fight a general 
battle at such distance from our base, unless at- 
tacked by the enemy; but finding ourselves un- 
expectedly confronted by the Federal army, it 
became a matter of difficulty to withdraw through 
the mountains with our large trains. At the same 
time the country was unfavorable for collecting 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 197 

supplies, while in tlie presence of the enemy's main 
body, as he was enabled to restrain our foraging 
parties by occupying the passes of the mountains 
with regular and local troops. A battle thus be- 
came, in a measure, unavoidable. Encouraged by 
the successful issue of the first day, and in view of 
the valuable results which would ensue from the 
defeat of the army of General Meade, it was thought 
advisable to renew the attack." 

Towards five in the afternoon, the heavy roll of 
artillery broke the stillness of the July day. It pro- 
ceeded from the Confederate lines. Under cover 
of this fire. General Lee had determined to make a 
desperate attempt to carry Eound Top Hill, which 
would make him master of Meade's entire position. 
Just in front of the hill, the Federal line had been 
pushed forward, and seemed to offer an easily as- 
sailable point from which the peak itself could be 
made accessible. 

To cover this movement, a feint was to be made 
on the enemy's right. On Hood's division, of 
Longstreet's corps, devolved the assault of Round 
Top Hill. 

With the wild cheer peculiar to the Confederate 
troops, the impetuous charge was made, driving the 
blue lines before them. The Federal left seemed 
thrown into hopeless confusion. Already the fiery 
Texans had clambered up the heights, and were 
fighting desperately hand-to-hand with the small 



198 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

force that still disputed its possession. Victory 
seemed within their grasp ; but at this moment a 
Federal brigade was hurried rapidly forward, guns 
were being dragged up the heights, and a new and 
stronger line disclosed itself beyond. After a des- 
perate struggle, Hood, finding himself unsupported, 
was forced to fall back. The enemy had been 
rapidly reinforced, and the Confederate assault, 
after so nearly attaining success, had ended in a re- 
pulse. Ewell, who had changed the feint on the 
Federal right into an attack, had not been entirely 
without success. Some ground had been wrested 
from the enemy, but the attack of the several divi- 
sions not being made with the unanimity that had 
been designed, fell short of really important re- 
sults. 

The morning of the 3d of July broke on the two 
armies still face to face. It was not possible to re- 
treat now without one more effort to retrieve the 
fortunes of the eager, ardent host, still full of 
confidence, and panting for a victory over the an- 
tagonist they had so often vanquished. 

General Lee resolved to pierce the enemy's cen- 
tre. Again the roar of cannon announces the ap- 
proaching struggle. A hundred and forty-five guns 
were massed to protect the attacking troops. The 
cannonade lasted two hours. General Hancock 
says of it : 

" Their artillery fire was most terrific. ... It 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 199 

was a most terrific and appalling cannonade, one 
possibly hardly ever equalled." 

Pickett's division of five thousand men is chosen 
for this assault. Steadily they march forward ; the 
Southern guns can no longer protect them. " Into 
the gates of death" they advance, these devoted 
Virginians, without pausing, without wavering, 
though men are falling at every step, struck down 
by the deadly hail poured into their ranks. Garnet, 
Kemper, Armistead, are shot down, but Pickett, 
who, with his fiery eye and long waving locks, 
seems the fit hero of story, gains the crest.* 

But the division sent to support him has fallen 
back. Captain C. C. Chesney, of the Poyal Engi- 
neers, who has written an admirable book on the 
war, says : 

"Pettigrew's troops were but raw in battle. 
Their desultory services on the coast of I^orth Ca- 
rolina had but ill prepared them for the fearful 
ordeal of that fatal valley; and before they had 
completed the descent of the slope on their own 
side, they wavered, and held back in parts, causing 
those who watched their conduct to augur ill for 
Pickett, should he trust to their support 

" Let those who would judge these troops severe- 
ly, remember that they were opposed to batteries, 

*"It advanced over the intervening space of near a mile in 
Buch compact and imposing order, that, whether friend or foe, 
none who saw it could refrain from admiration of its magnificent 
array." — Swinton. 



200 APOPUI.ARLIFEOF [18G3. 

compared to whose cannonade tliat of the heaviest 
cannon of position of Leipsic or Waterloo was light 
and trifling." 

"With thinned ranks, without officers, assailed 
flank and rear, Pickett can no longer hold the prize. 
Slowly it fiills from his victorious grasp. 

" Whatever valor could do to wrest victory from 
the jaws of hell, that it must be conceded the troops 
of Pickett had done," writes a Northern historian; 
but it was of no avail. The day was lost. 

With the name of Gettysburg, men will always 
associate the heroic charge of Pickett's division. 
A ITorthern critic, in reviewing a history of this 
division, says : 

" More is in a name in the South than with us ; 
and it was the custom there to call brigades, divi- 
sions, and corps after their respective leaders — a 
custom that is worthy of passing notice. Had it 
any real significance ? Did it mark the aristocratic 
tendency of the Southern mind ? Did it prove a 
lofty sentimental sense of glory in the Southern 
breast? Some may incline to think it did, that 
somethins: more than life and fortune and sacred 
honor was dedicated to the fight, when each gen- 
eral officer threw his name into the struggle before 
all the world." 

The writer then goes on to speak of that " charge 
in praise of which it may be truly said, that the 
world never knew a more glorious self-sacrifice for 



1863.] GENEEAL ROBERT E. LEE. 201 

honor's sake ; " and after detailing the casualties, — 
seven colonels of regiments killed and six wound- 
ed, besides the loss of the brigade commanders, 
Kemper wounded and captured, Garnet and Armis- 
tead slain, — concludes: "In fine, of the whole com- 
plement of field officers in fifteen regiments, only 
one escaped unhurt. The loss in companies was 
in almost the same fearful proportion. It teas one 
of the ivorltfs great deeds of armsJ' * 

Colonel Freemantle, who witnessed the battle of 
Gettysburg, says of the Southern leaders after the 
repulse : 

" If Longstreet's conduct was admirable, that of 
General Lee was perfectly sublime. He was en- 
gaged in rallying and in encouraging the broken 
troops, and was riding about a little in front of the 
wood quite alone, the whole of his staiF being 
engaged in a similar manner farther to the rear. 
His face, which is always placid and cheerful, did 
not show signs of the slightest disappointment, 
care, or annoyance ; and he was addressing to every 
soldier he met a few words of encouragement, 
such as, 'All this will come right in the end; 
we '11 talk it over afterwards : but in the meantime 
all good men must rally. We want all good and 
true men just now,' &c. He spoke to all the 
wounded men that passed him, and the slightly 
wounded he exhorted ' to bind up their hurts and 
take up a musket' in this emergency. Yery few 
failed to answer his appeal, and I saw many badly 

* The Nation, Oct. 13, 1870. 



202 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

wonncled men take off their hats and cheer him. 
He said to me, ' This has been a sad day for us, 
Colonel — a sad day; but we can't expect always to 
gain victories.' He was also kind enough to advise 
me to get into some more sheltered position, as the 
shells were bursting round us with considerable 
frequency. 

" ^N'otwithstanding the misfortune which had so 
suddenly befallen him, General Lee seemed to 
observe everything, however trivial. When a 
mounted officer began whipping his horse for shy- 
ing at the bursting of a shell, he called out, ' Don't 
whip him. Captain ; don't whip him ! I 've got just 
such another foolish horse myself, and whipping 
does no good.' 

" One of his Generals coming up in great dis- 
tress, lamenting the state of his brigade. General 
Lee shook hands with him, saying, ' I^ever mind, 
General ; all this has been my fault. It is I that 
have lost this fight, and you must help me out of 
it in the best way you can.' 

" Li this noble manner," adds Colonel Freemantle, 
*' I saw General Lee encourage and reanimate his 
somewhat dispirited troops, and magnanimously 
take upon his own shoulders the whole weight of 
the repulse." 

To the conduct of the soldiers the English offi- 
cer pays this tribute : 

" 'No words that I can use will adequately ex- 
press the extraordinary patience and fortitude with 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 203 

which the wounded Confederates bore their suffer- 
ings." 

Words of cheerful trust in their commander, 
such as, "We've not lost confidence in the old 
man; this day's work won't do him no harm. 
* Uncle Kobert ' will get us into Washington yet," 
&c., attested the courage and resolution which still 
inspired the army of Lee. 

The spirit of the army was unbroken. General 
Meade himself testifies that there were no symp- 
toms of demoralization. 

Colonel Freemantle says : 

" General Lee and his officers were fully impressed 
, with a sense of the situation ; yet there was much 
less noise, fuss, or confusion of orders than at an 
ordinary field-day. The men, as they were rallied 
in the wood, were brought up in detachments, and 
lay down quietly and coolly in the positions as- 
signed to them." 

The condition of the Southern forces was by no 
means critical. The^^ were willing and anxious to 
be attacked. But Meade showed no disposition to 
advance. That it was the part of prudence for 
him not to have done so, may readily be believed 
on the testimony of General Longstreet. 

" I had," he has declared, " Hood and McLaws, 
who had not been engaged ; I had a heavy force 
of artillery; I should have liked nothing better 



204 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

than to have been attacked, and have no doubt I 
should have given those who tried as bad a recep- 
tion as Pickett received." * 



CHAPTER XX. 



The Retreat from Gettysburg — The Attack upon the Wagon 
Trains — The Potomac Impassable — General Lee prepares for 
Battle — The River falls — Back to Virginia. 

0]^ the 4th, the two armies occupied the same 
positions as on the first day's fight. On the 
follow^ing day. General Lee prepared to move his 
army from Gettysburg. This retreat was conducted 
with skill and success. The prisoners, seven thou- 
sand in number, all the artillery, wagon trains, 
cattle, &c., were brought away safely. 

In carrying oft* the trains, there occurred what was 
known in the army as the " wagoner's fight." A 

* Captain Chesney, in the work before referred to, says : " No 
stronger proof can be given of the extreme confidence of the Con- 
federate Generals in the quality of their troops than the wish, 
well known to have been felt by Lee and his chief officers on the 
4th of July, that the enemy might celebrate the day by attempting 
the counter-attack which they had somewhat dreaded the night 
before. The reserve ammunition had been so carefully husbanded 
that enough remained for another day's action ; and it was hoped 
that the opportunity might be given for such a repulse of the Fed- 
erals as should leave them but little cause to boast of their victory. 
But Meade's intentions were of a more cautious cast than his 
enemy desired." 



1863.] GENEKAL ROBEET E. LEE. 205 

graphic account of tliis has lately been written by 
the officer who commanded the escort of the re- 
treating trains. He says : 

" Daybreak on the morning of the 5th found the 
head of our column at Greencastle, twelve or fif- 
teen miles from the Potomac, at Williamsport, our 
point of crossing. . . . After a great deal of harass- 
ing and desultory fighting along the road, nearly 
the whole immense train reached Williamsport a 
little after the middle of the day. The town was 
taken possession of; all the churches, school-houses, 
etc., were converted into hospitals, and proving in- 
sufficient, many of the private houses were occu- 
pied. Straw was obtained on the neighboring 
farms; the wounded were removed from the wagons 
and housed; the citizens were all put to cooking, 
and the army surgeons to dressing wounds. The 
dead were selected from the train — for many had 
perished on the way — and were decently buried. 
All this had to be done, because the tremendous 
rains had raised the river more than ten feet above 
the fording stage, and we could not possibly cross. 

"Our situation was frightful. We had over ten 
thousand animals and all the wao-ons of General 
Lee's army under our charge, and all the wounded 
that could be brought from Gettysburg. Our sup- 
ply of provisions consisted of a few wagon-loads of 
flour and a small lot of cattle. My eifective force 
was only about twenty-one hundred men and twenty 
odd field-pieces. We did not know where our 
army was ; the river could not be crossed, and 
18 



206 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

small parties of cavalry were still hovering around. 
The means of ferriage consisted of two small boats 
and a small wire rope stretched across the river, 
which, owing to the force of the swollen current, 
broke several times during the day. To reduce the 
space to be defended as much as possible, all the 
wagons and animals were parked close together on 
the river-bank. Believing that an attack would 
soon be made upon us, I ordered the wagoners to 
be mustered, and, taking three out of every four, 
organized them into companies, and armed them 
with the weapons of the wounded men found in 
the train. By this means I added to my effective 
force about five hundred men. Slightly wounded 
officers promptly volunteered their services to com- 
mand these improvised soldiers ; and many of our 
quartermasters and commissaries did the same 
thing. We were not seriously molested on the 5th, 
but next morning about nine o'clock, information 
reached me that a large body of cavalry from Fred- 
erick, Maryland, was rapidly advancing to attack 
us. As we could not retreat further, it was at once 
frankly made known to the troops, that, unless we 
could repel the threatened attack, we should all be- 
come prisoners, and that the loss of his whole trans- 
portation would probably ruin General Lee, for it 
could not be replaced for many months, if at all, in 
the then exhausted condition of the Confederate 
States. So far from repressing the ardor of the 
troops, this frank announcement of our peril in- 
spired all with the utmost enthusiasm. Men and 
officers alike, forgetting the sufferings of the past 



!l 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 207 

few d^js, proclaimed their determination to drive 
back the attacking force, or perish in the attempt. 
All told, we were less than three thousand men. 
The advancing force we knew to be more than 
double ours, consisting, as we had ascertained, of 
live regular and eight volunteer regiments of cav- 
alry, with eighteen guns, all under the command of 
Generals Buford and Kilpatrick. We had no works 
of any kind; the country w^as open and almost 
level, and there was no advantage of position we 
could occupy. It must necessarily be a square 
stand-up fight, face to face. "We had twenty-two 
field-guns of various calibre, and one Whitworth. 
These were disposed in batteries, in semi-circle, 
about one mile out of the village, on the summit of 
a very slight rising ground that lies back of the 
town. Except the artillery, our troops were held 
out of view of the assailants, and ready to be moved 
promptly to any menaced point along the whole 
line of nearly two miles in extent. Knowing that 
nothing could save us but a bold ' blufi:*' game, 
orders had been given to the artillery, as soon as the 
advancing forces came within range, to open fire 
along the whole line, and keep it up with the 
utmost rapidity. A little after one o'clock, they ap- 
peared on two roads in our front, and our batteries 
opened. They soon had their guns in position, and 
a very lively artillery fight began. We fired with 
great rapidity, and in less than an hour two of our 
batteries reported that our ammunition was ex- 
hausted. This would have been flital to us but for 
the opportune arrival at the critical moment of an 



208 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

ammunition train from "Wincliester. The wagons 
were ferried across to our side as soon as possible, 
and driven on the field in a gallop to supply the 
silent guns. Not having men to occupy half our 
line, they were moved up in order of battle, first to 
one batter^^, then withdrawn and double-quicked 
to another, but out of view of our assailants till 
they could be shown at some other point on our 
line. By this manoeuvring, we made the impres- 
sion that we had a strong supporting force in rear 
of all our guns along the entire front. To test this. 
Generals Buford and Kilpatrick dismounted five 
regiments, and advanced them on foot on our right. 
We concentrated there all the men we had, wagon- 
ers and all, and thus, with the aid of the united fire 
of all our guns directed at the advancing line, we 
drove it back, and rushed forward two of our bat- 
teries four or five hundred yards further to the 
front. This boldness prevented another charge, 
and the fig-ht was continued till near sunset with 
the artillery. About that time. General Fitzhugh 
Lee sent a message from toward Greencastle, that 
if we could hold out an hour he would reinforce us 
with three thousand men. This intelligence elic- 
ited a loud and long continued cheer along our 
whole line, which was heard and understood by our 
adversaries, as we learned from prisoners taken. 
A few minutes later, General J. E. P. Stuart, ad 
vancing from Hagerstown, fell unexpectedly upon 
the rear of their right wing, and in ten minutes 
they were in rapid retreat by their left flank in the 
direction of Boonsborough. ISTight coming on, 
enabled them to escape. 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 209 

" By extraordinary good fortune we had thus 
saved all of General Lee's trains. A bold charge 
at any time before sunset would have broken our 
feeble lines, and we would have fallen an easy prey 
to the Federals." * 

The next day the army arrived. Their march 
was deliberate and in perfect order. Many of the 
badly wounded insisted on marching in the ranks. 
Full of resolution and courage, and an undimin- 
ished confidence in their commander, " the famous 
Army of [N'orthern Virginia — great in defeat as in 
victory — took its slow way back to the soil of Vir- 
ginia." 

When they had reached Williamsport, the swollen 
river barred their further progress. Then Lee and 
his resolute troops sat down, with their face to the 
foe, and awaited the fall of the waters. Seven days 
of anxious, perilous watch on the banks of the Po- 
tomac, with ammunition nearly exhausted, no hope 
of reinforcements, Meade's army as strong in num- 
bers as before the losses of Gettysburg, advancing 
upon them, and the treacherous river at their 
backs — the situation was appalling. 

General Lee was so confident that Meade was 
approaching the Potomac for the purpose of attack- 
ing him, that the day before the arrival of the Fed- 
eral army he issued the following order to his 

* "Lee at Gettysburg;" The Galaxy, April, 1871. 
18* 



210 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

troops, liis headquarters being then at Hagers- 
town : * 

" Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, 
July 11, 1863. 
" General Order, 'No. 15. 

" After the long and trying marches, endured 
with the fortitude that has ever characterized the 
soldiers of the Army of ^Northern Virginia, you 
have penetrated to the country of our enemies, and 
recalled to the defence of their own soil those who 
were engaged in the invasion of ours. You have 
fought a fierce and sanguinary battle, which, if 
not attended with the success which has hitherto 
crowned your efforts, was marked with the same 
heroic spirit that has commanded the respect of 
your enemies, the gratitude of your country, and 
the admiration of mankind. 

'' Once more you are called upon to meet the 
enemy frqin wliom you have torn so many fields — 
names that will never die ; once more the eyes of 
your countrymen are turned upon you ; and again 
do wives and sisters, fathers and mothers, and help- 

* " At Hagerstown he first learned that his son, W. H. F. Lee, who 
had been badly wounded at Brandy Station, in June, was now in 

a Federal prison, and his life in danger Threats were 

held out as to his life being forfeited, if the Richmond Government 
should carry out the purpose they had announced of retaliating 
on two of their prisoners for the execution by Burnside (under 
pretences held illegal by President Davis) of two Confederate cap- 
tains lately taken in Kentucky Unmoved by all this 

burden of public and private cares, Lee lost neither the cool judg- 
ment, on which his army relied, nor the unruffled sweetness of 
temper which made him the idol of those about him." — Campaigns 
in Virginia, Maryland, ^c, by C. C. Chesney, Royal Engineers. 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 211 

less children lean for defence on your strong arms 
and brave hearts. Let every soldier remember 
that on his courage and fidelity depends all that 
makes life worth having — the freedom of his coun- 
try, the honor of his people, and the security of his 
home. Let each heart grow strong in the remem- 
brance of our glorious past and in the thought of 
the inestimable blessings for which we contend; 
and, invoking the assistance of that Heavenly 
Power which has so signally blessed our former 
efforts, let us go forth in confidence to secure the 
peace and safety of our country. Soldiers, your old 
enemy is before you. Win from him honor worthy 
of your right cause, worthy of your comrades dead 
on so many illustrious fields. 

" R. E. Lee, General Commanding." 

Earthworks were thrown up, and every prepara- 
tion made for the struggle which threatened them. 
Meade arrived, intrenched himself, and waited also. 

The following night — the 13th of July — the 
Confederate army crossed the river, without other 
loss than a few disabled wagons and two pieces 
of artillery, the horses drawing the latter having 
become exhausted. Some stragglers, overcome by 
fatigue, fell asleep, and going astray in the rain and 
darkness, fell into the hands of the enemy.* 

* It may not be amiss here to give the history of a veteran hen, 
an old campaigner of the Army of Northern Virginia, whose re- 
markable services deserve to be commemorated. It is not remem- 
bered how or when she made her appearance in "camp ; " but early 
experiencing the attentians of the Commander-in-Chief, she repaid 



212 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

A flank movement was afterwards made by 
Meade, who, crossing the river at Berlin, attempted 
to cut off the further retreat of Lee, but without 
success. 

On the 1st of August the Confederate army was 
established in safety on the Rapidan, Meade facing 
Lee, each in very nearly the same position as before 
the march into Pennsylvania. 

The campaign was over. 

his notice by laying an egg every day beneath the table of his 
tent. Whenever the encampment was changed, the old hen was 
seen to fly upon the last wagon, where, perched upon the baggage, 
she made the "march." She accompanied the army into Penn- 
sylvania, and after the battle of Gettysburg, in the retreat, amid 
the darkness and rain, the old hen was forgotten. What was the 
amazement of the men, when the sun shone upon the army safe 
upon the Virginia side of the Potomac, to find the hen, who had 
outlived all the danger of the campaign, again at her post of 
duty. This veteran survived the war. 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E.LEE. 213 



CHAPTER XXL 

Dark Days in the Confederacy — Proclamation by the President — 
General Lee's Order to the Army — Longstreet's Corps sent to 
Tennessee — General Lee advances upon Meade — Stuart's nar- 
row Escape — Engagement at Bristoe Station — Back to the 
Rapidan — Winter Quarters. 

11HE Ml of Yicksburg, occurring at the same 
- time witli the disaster at Gettysburg, marked a 
period of unprecedented gloom in the fortunes of 
the Confederacy. All hope of a speedy termination 
of the war had vanished. 

On the 15th of July Mr. Davis issued a procla- 
mation, calling into the military service every male 
between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. 

A day of humiliation and prayer, appointed by 
the President in August, was observed throughout 
the country. The following order was issued by 
General Lee in regard to its observance : 

"Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, 
" August 13, 1863. 
" General Orders, 'No. 83. 

" The President of the Confederate States has, 
in the name of the people, appointed the 21st day 
of August as a day of fasting, humiliation, and 
prayer. A strict observance of the day is enjoined 
upon the officers and soldiers of this arm}^ All 
military duties, except such as are absolutely neces- 
sary, will be suspended. The commanding officers 



214 APOPULARLIFEOF [IS63. 

of brigades are requested to cause Divine service, 
suitable to the occasion, to be performed in their 
respective commands. 

" Soldiers ! we have sinned against Almighty 
God. We have forgotten his signal mercies, and 
have cultivated a revengeful, haughty, and boastful 
spirit. We have not remembered that the defend- 
ers of a just cause should be pure in His eyes, that 
' our times are in His hands; ' and we have relied 
too much on our own arms for the achievement of 
our independence. God is our ' onh^ refuge and 
our strength,' Let us humble ourselves before him. 
Let us confess our many sins, and beseech Him to 
give iis a higher courage, a purer patriotism, and 
more determined will; that He will convert the 
hearts of our enemies; that He will hasten the 
time when war, with its sorrows and sufferings, 
shall cease, and that He will give us a name and a 
place among the nations of the earth. 

"K. E. Lee, GeneraL" 

August and September wore away without any 
event of importance, except that, during the latter 
month. General Lee's force was reduced by the 
transfer of the first corps, under Longstreet, to the 
army of Bragg in Tennessee. Meade was about 
to take advantage of Lee's diminished numbers, 
and attempt a flank movement, when he received 
orders to send off two corps to reinforce the Fed- 
eral army at Chattanooga. General Lee now de- 
termined, although his opponent's force still ex- 



1863.] GENETwAL ROBERT E. LEE. 215 

ceeded liis own, to execute a bold, movement, 
which, if successful, would result in cutting oiF 
Meade's communications with Washinofton. Bv a 
circuitous march along private roads, he came 
within a short distance of Calpepper Court-IIouse. 
Fitz-Lee's cavalry and a detachment of infantry 
were left behind for the purpose of deceiving the 
enemy. General Stuart, with the rest of the cav- 
alry, accompanied General Lee to protect the ad- 
vance. Coming upon the Federal cavalry at James 
City, they were driven back upon Culpepper Court- 
IIouse, where Meade's army lay. Finding, from 
this attack, that liis right flank had been turned, 
Meade retreated across the Rappahannock. 

General Lee, pushing forward his whole army, 
occupied the Court-IIouse on the 11th. An en- 
gagement took place that evening, at Brandy Sta- 
tion, between the cavalry of the two armies. Stu- 
art being now reinforced by Fitz-Lee's division, 
the Federal troops were driven across the river with 
severe loss. Lee hastened forward in hopes of in- 
tercepting Meade's retreat. Arrived at the Rappa- 
hannock opposite Warrenton Springs, a cavalry 
skirmish ensued, with some artillery firing; but 
the passage of the river ^vas at length effected, 
and in a short time the whole army reached War- 
renton. 

Meade was still in doubt as to the designs of his 
adversary, and deciding that his retreat had been 



216 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

too precipitate, resolved to return to Culpepper 
and give battle. A portion of his troops had al- 
ready turned back for this purpose, when news 
reached him of the repulse of his cavalry at the 
Rappahannock, which made liim aware of the 
danger to which he was exposing himself. Orders 
were immediately dispatched to recall those forces, 
which at once returned to Culpepper. 

It was at this juncture that General Stuart found 
himself placed in a critical position between two 
large bodies of the enemy. Having set out on a 
reconnoissance to Catlet's Station, he found, on 
nearing the place, that the enemy was in his front. 
Turning to retrace his steps to Warrenton, his 
scouts reported heavy masses of infantry moving 
towards him on this road. 

He was hemmed in between the columns of 
French and Warren, concealed in a narrow belt of 
woods, within sound almost of the enemy's voices. 
The Confederate cavalry passed an anxious night. 
Messengers, in blue coats, had been sent to General 
Lee to acquaint him with their perilous position. 
Afraid to sleep, fearful lest some incautious sound 
should betray them, they sat on their horses through 
the weary hours, in anxious expectation of the 
dawn. 

The camp-fires lighted to get breakfast, within a 
hundred and fifty yards of their place of conceal- 
ment, showed them the faces of their dangerous 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 217 

iieiglibors ; and two of Meade's staff strayed into 
their covert during tlie niglit and were captured. 

At length the glad sound of musketry announced 
the approach of Confederate infantry. Stuart im- 
mediately opened upon the Federals from the rear 
with his artillery, causing great consternation by 
the unexpectedness and precision of his fire. Then 
moving aside and leaving the main roads, he made 
his way to Lee's lines, without sustaining any loss.* 

Lee's army, which had been delayed in Warren- 
ton to procure provisions, was divided into two 
columns, and resumed its march on the 14th. 

By different roads, the two commands under 
Ewell and Hill were ordered to make their way as 
rapidly as possible to Bristoe Station. But Meade, 
now fully cognizant of their designs, and having 
the shorter line, succeeded in bringing up his forces 
before Lee arrived. 

Hill comiug up with the Federal rear-guard near 
the Station, a severe engagement took place; and 
mistaking the strength of the force opposed to him, 

*" Unseen himself in tlie valley, veiled by mist and the gray 
morning light, he had yet a plain view of the Union forces on the 
illuminated hill-tops, and for a few minutes, till the troops could 
be moved to the opposite side of the hill under cover, the fire 
from the Confederate batteries told with fatal effect. A remark- 
able example of this destructive effect was furnished by one ef 
the shells which killed seven men. Having thus paid his compli- 
ments, the rollicsome sabreur escaped by moving to the rear 
around the Union rear-guard." — Swinton : Army of the Foto- 
mac. 

19 



218 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

he advanced his two brigades upon the enemy's 
strong position, and was repulsed with great loss. 

General Lee arriving with the main body after 
the unfortunate affair had terminated, found Meade 
already in a position of safety beyond Bull Run. 

The expedition had failed of its legitimate object, 
but had been accompanied by a success in the valley, 
which slightly compensated for the disappointment 
experienced elsewhere. 

General Imboden, to whom had been inti'usted 
the task of guarding the passes of the Blue Eidge, 
not content with accomplishing this object, deter- 
mined to capture the garrison at Charlestown. 

Marching from Berry ville on the 18th, he con- 
trived his movements with so much caution, that 
his vicinity was not suspected by the Federals until 
the town was surrounded. 

The garrison, four hundred and thirty-four offi- 
cers and men, surrendered after a slight resistance. 
The Lieutenant-Colonel and several other officers, 
making their escape, gave the alarm at Harper's 
Ferry. A force was immediately sent from there, 
but arrived too late for the succor of Charlestown. 

General Lee estimated his losses in this entire ex- 
pedition at one thousand men. He took two thou- 
sand prisoners. 

After destroying the Orange and Alexandria 
railroad, from Bull Run back to the Rappahan- 
nock, General Lee now began falling back, Meade 
pursuing without overtaking him. 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 219 

In this retrograde movement occurred tlie fight 
between Stuart's cavahy and that of General Kil- 
patrick, known among Stuart's troops as the ^'Buck- 
land races," which a ^^orthern historian details in 
these words : 

" Wliile on the advance towards Warrenton, on 
tlie 19th, Kilpatrick's division skirmished warmly 
with Hampton's division up to Buckland Mills, at 
the crossing of Broad Bun, on the southern bank 
of which Hampton took post, under the personal 
direction of Stuart, who here planned a skilful 
manoeuvre to defeat his opponent. Kilpatrick hav- 
ing forced the crossing by turning the flank of Hamp- 
ton, Stuart fell back slowly towards Warrenton, 
with the view of permitting Fitz-Lee's cavalry 
division to come up from Aubarn and attack the 
Union cavalry in flank and rear. This plan was 
carried out with some success. Fitz-Lee, arriving 
just below Buckland, surprised Kilpatrick's force 
on the flank, and Stuart, hearing Fitz-Lee's guns, 
pressed vigorously in front with Hampton's divi- 
sion. A stubborn resistance was offered, but a 
charge aufond finally forced Kilpatrick's command 
to give way, and he retreated in some confusion." 

" Great confusion," adds the writer, in a foot-note, 
quoting from Stuart's report. 

A member of Stuart's staff describes this affair 
as "one of the most animated of the war." 

The "ruse" suggested by Fitz-Lee had succeeded 
admirably. Stuart's retreat was only meant to draw 
his adversary into the snare awaiting him. 



220 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

" Then Fitz-Lee was to attack tlie enemy in flank 
and rear, from the direction of Auhurn. His can- 
non would be the signal for Stuart to return 

" Suddenly the wild Southern cheer rang above 
the woods. Stuart and Fitz-Lee had united their 
forces. In one solid column they pressed the flyiu^ 
enemv, bano-ins: and thunderincr on their rear with 
carbines and cannon. Kilpatrick was defeated; his 
column in hopeless rout. 

" ^ Stuart boasts of having driven me from Cul- 
pepper,' he is reported to have said, just before the 
fisfht, ' and now I am o^oins; to drive Jtiin .^ ' " 



L^XXC, 



On returning to the Rappahannock, General Lee 
posted his troops on both sides of the railroad, — 
Ewell on the right. Hill on the left, — and quietly 
waited the approach of Meade. 

The latter was not long in repairing the damage 
done to the railroad by the Confederates, and as 
soon as this w^as completed, he prepared for another 
advance. 

On the 7th of November, the Federal forces had 
reached the Rappahannock, and at Kelly's Ford, 
where the Confederate picket w^as not strong enough 
to oppose them, the passage of the river was effected. 
At the railroad-bridge, Early's division was posted 
to prevent their crossing. Two brigades were 
thrown forward to the north side of the river, in 
a ^trong position, where it was supposed they would 
be enabled to hold their ground, assisted by the 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 221 

Confederate guns posted on the Southern bank. 
Late in the evenins:, this little force found itself at- 
tacked by Sedgwick's entire corps. The darkness 
of the night made it impossible to see the move- 
ments of the enemy. A high wind deadened the 
sound of their approach, and the fear of injuring 
their own men prevented the artillery from render- 
ing any assistance. 

The Confederates, unable to withstand the over- 
whelming charge, many of them were captured, 
one hundred killed and wounded, the rest escaping 
in the darkness and confusion by sw^imming the 
river. 

General Meade now advanced and took up his 
old position on the Rappahannock, and General 
Lee soon after retired behind the Rapidan, as he 
was not prepared to risk a general engagement. 
He strongly intrenched himself; his right on the 
Rapidan at Morton's Ford, and his left on Mine 
Run, a small stream running at right angles to the 
Rappahannock. 

Learning that some of the lower fords of the 
Rapidan had been left uncovered. General Meade 
resolved, in the latter part of ITovember, to make an 
effort to get in Lee's rear and cut off" his commu- 
nications with Richmond. 

Rumors of these contemplated movements reach- 
ing Lee, preparations were speedily made to resist 

them. 

19* 



222 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

The following order was issued in contemplation 
of a general advance on the part of the enemy : 

"Headquarters Army Northern Virginia, 
" November 26, 1863. 

" General Order, No. 102. 

" The enemy is again advancing upon our capi- 
tal, and the country once more looks to this arni}^ 
for its protection. Under the blessings of God, 
your valor has repelled every previous attempt, and 
invoking the continuance of His favor, we cheer- 
fully submit to Him the issue of the coming conflict. 

" A cruel enemy seeks to reduce our fathers and 
our mothers, our wives and our children, to abject 
slavery ; to strip them of their property and drive 
them from their homes. Upon you these helpless 
ones rely to avert these terrible calamities, and se- 
cure to them the blessings of liberty and safety. 
Your past history gives them the assurance that 
their trust will not be in vain. Let every man re- 
member that all he holds dear depends upon the 
faithful discharge of his duty, and resolve to fight, 
and, if need be, to die, in defence of a cause so 
sacred and worthy the name won by the army on 
so many bloody fields. 

(Signed) E. E. Lee, General." 

In an action at Germanna Ford, on the 27th, the 
Federal division of General French was repulsed 
with considerable loss. Bringing up the rest of his 
forces, Meade decided upon a general attack ; but 



1863.] GEXEEAL ROBERT E. LEE. 223 

on discovering tlie strength of Lee's position, aban- 
doned his intention, after some slight skirmishing. 

Finding that he had failed in surprising his 
adversary, and fearing that the winter season would 
overtake him away from his supplies, General 
Meade determined to withdraw his troops and re- 
tire to Brandy Station. 

Early in December, both armies had gone into 
winter-quarters, — Meade on the Kappahannock ; 
Lee on the old line of the Eapidan. 



CHAPTER XXIL 

Privations of the Array — Incidents at Headquarters — General 
Lee's Letter to the City Council of Richmond — An Address to 
the Army — The Dahlgren Raid. 

r^ EXEKAL Lee found himself in the winter of 
^ '63-64 much embarrassed with the question of 
subsistence for his troops. Corn meal, and that in 
very insufficient quantities, with four ounces of fat 
pork each day, came to be the only rations. He 
made repeated representations to the Commissary 
Department and in other quarters, and at one time 
wrote to the President that he '' feared he would 
not be able to keep the troops in the field." 

Another evil making itself alarmingly apparent, 
was the decrease in the army itself. Poorly fed and 



224 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1863. 

scantily clotliecl, desertions became numerous. The 
conscription had failed to fill the ranks, and it was 
apparent that the Government had committed an 
error in not enlisting troops for the war. 

General Lee shared the privations of his men. 
His ordinary allowance for the mess- table during 
this period consisted of '^ a head of cabbage boiled 
in salt water, and a ' pone ' of corn bread." Meat 
was eaten only twice a week. 

An amusing anecdote is related by one of his 
officers. '' General Lee having one day invited some 
gentlemen to dine with him, the negro servant was 
ordered to procure a dish of bacon and cabbage. 
The company arrived, and sat down before a large 
dish of cabbage, with a very small bit of middling 
in the centre — an island in a sea of cabbage. Upon 
being asked to partake of the unwonted delicacy, 
each guest politely declined, and the meat was car- 
ried away untasted. The following day at dinner. 
General Lee asked for the bacon, when the embar- 
rassed servant, scratching his head, stammered out, 
^ De fac is, Marse Kobert, dat ar midlin' was bor- 
rered midlin' ; I done took it back to the man whar 
I got it from.' " * 

* The same officer gives an instance of General Lee's love of a 
joke, in the following: "With all his grandeur of character, his 
simplicity was almost childlike, and his relish of a joke hearty. To 
illustrate this, our old friend, Mrs. F., living about a mile from our 
headquarters, sent me one day a demijohn of buttermilk, which, 
knowing his fondness for it, I directed Bryan, our factotum, to take 



1863.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 225 

Temperate and abstemious at all times, it is re- 
lated of him by one of his staff, referring to days 
of greater plenty, that " frequently, when a par- 
ticularly nice piece of beef, or of mutton, of which 
he was especially fond, was on the table, and he 
was asked to partake further, he would decline, say- 
ing: ' I should really enjoy another piece, but I have 
had my allowance.' " 

It is these little things which exhibit character, 
and from them may be presaged the exercise of the 
same virtues in the greater affairs of life. 

The following letter was written about this time : 

"Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, 
" November 12, 1863. 

" To the President of the City Council, Kich- 
mond, Va. 
" Sir: — My attention has been directed to a reso- 
lution reported in the newspapers as having been 
introduced into the body over which you preside, 

to the General's tent, with Mrs. F.'s compliments. At twelve 
o'clock, our usual lunch hour, the General had the demijohn brought 
out and put on the table with drinking-vessels, and then sum- 
moned the gentlemen of his staff. Seeing a demijohn, all imagined 
it to be a present of fine old brandy or wine, of which rarity we 
were invited to partake, especially when the General ceremonious- 
ly said to the servant, 'Bryan, help the gentlemen, Colonel 

first,' (who he knew never drank buttermilk.) The eager expec- 
tation visible in each countenance was as much enjoyed by the 
General, as was the disappointment expressed when each tasted 
his cup ; the wry faces made by some of the guests provoking a 
hearty laugh from the host." 

P 



226 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

having for its object the purchase, by the city of 
Richmond, of a house for the use of my family. 

" I assure you, sir, that no want of appreciation 
of the honor conferred upon me by this resokition, 
or insensibihty to the kind feeUngs which prompted 
it, induces me to ask, as I most respectfully do, 
that no further proceedings be taken with reference 
to the subject. The house is not necessary to the 
use of my family, and my own duties will prevent 
my residence in Richmond. 

" I should, therefore, be compelled to decline the 
generous offer, and trust that whatever means the 
City Council may have to spare for this purpose 
may be devoted to the relief of the families of our 
soldiers in the field, who are more in want of as- 
sistance and more deserving of it than myself. 

'' I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 
" Your ob't serv't, 

" R. E. Lee, General." 

It was at this time of suffering and privation that 
General Lee issued the following order to his dis- 
pirited troops : 

" Headquaeters Army of Northern Virginia, 
" January 22, 1864. 

" General Order, ISTo. 7. 

" The Commanding General considers it due to 
the army to state that the temporary reduction of 
rations has been caused by circumstances beyond 
the control of those charged with its support. Its 
welfare and comfort are the objects of his constant 
and earnest solicitude, and no effort has been spared 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 227 

to provide for its wants. It is hoped that the exer- 
tions now being made will render the necessity of 
short duration; but the history of the army has 
shown that the country can require no sacrifice too 
great for its patriotic devotion. 

" Soldiers ! you tread with no unequal steps the 
road by which your fathers marched through suf- 
fering, privation, and blood to independence ! 

^' Continue to emulate in the future, as you have 
in the past, their valor in arms, their patient endur- 
ance of hardships, their high resolve to be free, 
which no trial could shake, no bribe seduce, no 
danger appall ; and be assured that the just God, 
who crowned their eiforts with success, will, in his 
own good time, send down his blessing upon yours. 

"K. E. Lee, General." 

In order to fill up the ranks. General Lee issued 
an order offering furloughs to all who would pro- 
cure an able-bodied recruit. About this time also 
several additional cavalry brigades were organized 
at his suggestion. 

In the latter part of January an expedition against 
Richmond was planned by B. F. Butler, then in 
command of a force on the Peninsula. In order to 
insure a surprise, attention was to be drawn from 
Richmond by a feint against Lee from the main 
army. The raiding force set out ; but finding the 
approaches to Richmond more securely guarded 
than they had supposed, they fell back to the Pen- 
insula. The movement resulted in the loss of two 



228 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

hundred and fifty men, without srny compensating 
gain. 

In Fehruarv, another attempt was made against 
Kichmond, with designs of such a nature as will 
ever make it an anomaly in the history of civilized 
warfare. From written documents found on the 
person of Colonel Dahlgren, the officer second in 
command, the object was discovered to be the liber- 
ation of the prisoners at Belle Isle, and, wdth their 
assistance, the destruction of the town by fire, and 
the murder of the President and Cabinet. General 
Kilpatrick, the officer in command of the whole 
force, was to advance with a portion of the cavalry 
on the north side of the city, taking the road by the 
Brook Tavern. Colonel Dahlgren was to march with 
another detachment through Goochland County; 
while General Custer made a feint upon Charlottes- 
ville for the purpose of covering the real object of 
the expedition. Custer, finding Stuart's horse artil- 
lery near Charlottesville, retreated to Madison Court- 
House. Kilpatrick, after he had arrived within a 
short distance of the line of fortifications around 
Eichmond, suddenly turned aside and took the road 
to the Peninsula. Thus Dahlgren was left unsup- 
ported. Expecting to be joined by Kilpatrick, he 
marched to within four miles of Eichmond. Here 
he was met by a small force of militia, composed of 
the department clerks and laborers in the Govern- 
ment works. Confident of repulsing raw recruits 



1864.] GEKERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 229 

with his picked men, he charged upon them, bat 
waii met by such a steady fire that he did not renew 
the attack. lie decided to retreat, but becoming 
separated, with about a hundred men, from the rest 
of his party, he came upon another detachment of 
Confederates, composed partly of regulars, partly 
of home-guards. The news of the raid, and the 
peril of the city, having spread throughout the dis- 
trict, this force had been hastily collected to cut off 
the retreat of the Federal cavalry. A skirmish en- 
sued, in which Dahlgren was shot and mortally 
wounded ; the rest of the party, after a few shots, 
fled in confusion. Eighty surrendered the follow- 
ing day, finding escape impossible. 

Thus ended the ^'Dahlgren Eaid," one of the 
saddest events of the war, when we consider the 
high social position, refined education, and gentle 
manners of the young man, hardly over twenty, to 
whom was confided so cruel a purpose. The 
authenticity of the Dahlgren papers was afterwards 
denied by the father of Colonel Dahlgren, but their 
genuineness was clearly proved in the investigations 
made by the Confederate authorities at the time.* 

Richmond breathed freely after her escape from 
this great peril. Had not Kilpatrick retreated 
when he did, thus aftbrding time for the organiza- 
tion of a force in her defence, the 1st of March 
would have witnessed the doom of the devoted city. 

■5^ " Lost Cause," p. 504. 
20 



230 A POPULAE LIFE OF [1864. 

The following general order was issued by Gen- 
eral Lee in the latter part of March : 

" Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, 
" March 30, 1864. 

" General Order, !N'o. 23. 

" In compliance with the recommendations of the 
Senate and House of Representatives, his Excel- 
lency the President has issued his proclamation, 
calling upon the people to set apart Friday, the 8th 
of April, as a day of fasting, humiliation, and 
prayer. 

" The Commanding General invites the arn\y to 
join in the observance of the day. He directs due 
preparations to be made in all departments, to 
anticipate the w^ants of the several commands, so 
that it may be strictly observed. All military du- 
ties, except such as are absolutely necessary, will be 
suspended. The chaplains are desired to hold ser- 
vices in their regiments and brigades. The oiiicers 
and men are requested to attend. 

'' Soldiers ! let us humble ourselves before the 
Lord, our God, asking, through Christ, the forgive- 
ness of our sins, beseeching the aid of the God of 
our forefathers in the defence of our homes and 
our liberties, thanking Him for his past blessings, 
and imploring their continuance upon our cause 
and our people. 

^' R. E. Lee, GeneraL" 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 231 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Grant takes Command of the Army of the Potomac — His Ad- 
vance — The Battle of the Wilderness — Longstreet Wounded. 

THE long winter had passed away. "With the 
early spring days came rumors of the tremen- 
dous exertions being made by the Northern Gov- 
ernment for the approaching campaign. Supjjlies 
of all sorts had been lavishly distributed. Heavy 
bounties had enabled the authorities to procure re- 
cruits without difficulty, which, with the draft, had 
combined to swell the Army of the Potomac to a 
total of a hundred and forty thousand men. The 
command of this immense force had, in March, 
been conferred upon Major-General Grant, an offi- 
cer wdio had won great reputation in the West. 
His career promised to be more successful than that 
of his predecessors, as he was personally and polit- 
ically acceptable to the Administration ; and being 
possessed of great energy and perseverance, he had 
been enabled hitherto to attain that success which 
is with the multitude the test of genius. 

He had another advantage over General McClel- 
lan and others, in that he commanded experienced 
veterans instead of raw recruits, and that the oppos- 
ing army had lost strength, and was no longer full 
of the prestige of success. 



232 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

His policy was to destroy Ms adversary by " con- 
tinuous hammering," rather than to manoeuvre, a 
policy which could only be maintained by a com- 
mander who had unlimited means to draw from, 
and no scruples as to the sacrifice of life it entailed. 

By the application of this style of warfare he 
hoped to wear out, by " attrition," the opponent 
whose superior generalship he could not expect to 
rival.* 

General Lee realized, as few others did, the mag- 
nitude of the odds against him. His whole force 
did not exceed fifty thousand men, and he could 
hope for no reinforcements until the last of May. 

The gravity and importance of the struggle had 
impressed itself in ever deepening lines on the 
minds of the people. 

In an address signed by the '' wives, daughters, 
sisters, and friends" of the Confederate soldiers, 
they were admonished for their '' stricken country's 
sake," to be true to themselves and their " glorious 
cause." 

Inspired by a like patriotism, the veterans of Lee 
made ready for the coming battle. 

General Lee's army occupied a strong position, 
which it was not probable the enemy would attack 

* "Lee's army," said a Northern writer, referring to it at this 
time, "is an army of veterans; it is an instrument sharpened to a 
perfect edge. You turn its flank; well, its flanks are made to be 
turned. This eflFects little or nothing. All that we reckon as gained, 
therefore, is the loss of life inflicted on the enemy." 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 233 

in front. His right, on the Rapidan near Somer- 
ville Ford, extended along the river for three miles, 
and was held by Ewell. Hill's troops were stretched 
out on either side of Orange Court-House. The 
Confederate left was at Gordonsville held by Long- 
street. The line was a long one, but the army 
could be easily concentrated upon any threatened 
point. 

On the 3d of May the Federal army moved from 
its encampment, crossing the Rapidan at Ely's and 
Germanna fords, for the purpose of attacking Lee's 
right and forcing him to retreat to the South Anna. 

Finding that his passage of the river had not been 
disputed, General Grant supposed that General Lee 
was falling back, as he intended he should, to pre- 
serve his communications. Grant then hoped, by 
masking his movements, to traverse the Wilderness 
and give battle in the open country beyond. But 
General Lee had determined not to retreat; on the 
contrary, he meant to make Grant fight in the Wil- 
derness.* Ewell's and Hill's corps were moved 
forward, the one by the turnpike, the other by the 
plank road, and Longstreet at the same time was 
ordered to march from Gordonsville, on the right 

* " To foil his adversary's design was Lee's first aim. The 
plan he formed to effect this is one of the boldest and most skil- 
ful conceptions of that officer. Instead of falling back, on finding 
his flank turned, he took a strategic offensive, directed a rapid 
concentration of his forces to meet Grant, and aimed to shut Grant 
up in the Wilderness." 
20* 



234 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

of Ewell, to strike the front of the enemy's advanc- 
ing columns. 

Unaware of Lee's designs, Grant made his prep- 
arations, and the Federal troops were rapidly pushed 
forward. Warren, who was in the advance, march- 
ing by the Germanna Road, rested, on the night of 
the 4th, within three miles of Ewell, who, in ad- 
vance of Hill, had reached a position on the Orange 
Road very near the point where the road from Ger- 
manna Ford intersects it. 

On the morning of the 5th of May, the Federal 
troops prepared to continue their march, but were 
soon made aware of the proximity of the Confed- 
erates. General Grant, not doubting that this was 
the rear-guard of Lee, whom he supposed in full 
retreat, threw forward three divisions to clear the 
road. 

The ground was the tangled wilderness which 
had been the theatre of war the previous spring, 
and all movements were necessarily slow and diifi- 
cult. To leave the roads was to leave behind all 
visible land-marks, and to trust to the compass 
alone for guidance. So thick wer^ the forests, that 
it was impossible for a regimental commander to 
see the whole of his line at once. The Confeder- 
ates had the advantage of being familiar with the 
country ; and General Lee moreover had the further 
advantage of what position there was, as he had 
chosen the field. 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 235 

About noon, the assault was made. At the in- 
tersection of the roads, the Federal artillery was 
planted, and poured a heavy fire into the Confeder- 
ate lines. The Federals pressed steadily forward 
in spite of a sharp musketr^^-fire from the Confed- 
erates, and succeeded in breaking through the lines 
where they crossed the turnpike. General J. M. 
Jones's brigade, which held this position, was forced 
back in confusion, and their gallant commander fell 
mortally wounded while vainly endeavoring to rally 
his men. At this moment General George H. 
Steuart moved his brigade forward, the men rushing 
with cheers into the gap, pressed back the Federals 
in turn, and captured their guns. Rodes's brigade 
was now ordered forward to their assistance. 

Gordon, with two brigades, charging the enemy 
on the right, drove them in confusion a distance of 
a mile and a half, capturing a whole regiment with 
their officers. 

Somewhat later, an attack was made on the Con- 
federate left. This too was repulsed, and the 
enemy driven half a mile or more. The troops 
were now recalled by Ewell to their- original line, 
to await the arrival of A. P. Hill. 

At one tin^e during the day General Lee was in 
great danger. While the fighting on Ewell's line 
was going on. General Hill and himself, having ar- 
rived in advance of Hill's troops, were standing in 
conversation in a somewhat exposed position. A 



236 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

Federal scouting party came witliin two hundred 
yards of them, but, alarmed at discovering them- 
selves in the Southern lines, retired in haste with- 
out firing a shot. 

Communications were opened with Ewell as soon 
as Hill's lines were formed. The troops extending 
through the woods covered the two roads — the 
Orange Plank Koad and Old Turnpike. The Federal 
army occupied the thicket in front, Hancock's lines 
extending along the Brock Road in a southerly di- 
rection. 

Grant being now fully aware that he had before 
him the entire army of Lee, instead of the small 
force that he had at first supposed, ordered a gen- 
eral attack at four o'clock. 

Hill met the troops of Hancock with a well di- 
rected fire, and stubbornly resisted all the efibrts of 
the Federal masses to break through his lines. 

" The assaults," in General Lee's words, " were 
repeated and desperate, but every one was repulsed." 

At nightfall the attack terminated. The Con- 
federates had been successful at every point; but 
the great battle was to come. 

At five o'clock on the morning of the 6th, General 
Longstreet came up. He had arrive'd within ten 
miles of the battle-field on the evening before, but 
owing to the thick woods intervening, did not hear 
the firing, and was unaware of the engagement. 

General Lee had determined to assume the oflTen- 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 237 

sive, and was only waiting for his " old war-horse," 
as he termed Longstreet, to relieve Hill, and to 
open the hattle. But before this could be effected, 
General Grant, who had also resolved to attack, 
threw a heavy force upon Hill's front, just as the 
troops were falling back to give place to Long- 
street's corps. They were thus taken at a disadvan- 
tage, and were pressed back within a few hundred 
yards of General Lee's headquarters. Longstreet 
formed his line as promptly as possible, threw for- 
ward Kershaw's division to stem the enemy's ad- 
vance, and at length bringing up his whole corps, 
after a severe contest, succeeded in driving them 
back and regaining Hill's former position. This 
was only accomplished after long and heavy fight- 
ing, as Grant had massed his best troops for this 
charge, confident of breaking through Lee's line. 
But for the timely arrival of Longstreet, he might 
have achieved his purpose. 

At eleven o'clock, General Lee, having frustrated 
Grant's design, prepared to put into execution his 
own plan of a flank movement against the enemy's 
left. His object was to seize the Brock Road, 
which would shut Grant up in the Wilderness, and 
force him to retreat to the Eapidan. 

Longstreet, with a few select brigades, had charge 
of this movement. Pressing impetuously forward, 
he drove the enemy in confusion before him, bend- 
ing back his line upon itself, routing whole divi- 



238 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

sions, and seemed just about to grasp the object of 
liis wishes. As he spurred forward to lead his 
troops in person to the crowning achievement, he 
was hahed by General Jenkins, of South Carolina, 
for some words of complimentary greeting. At 
this moment they were fired upon by some of his 
own troops, concealed in the bushes, who mistook 
them for a party of the flying foe. Too late they 
discovered their mistake ; the well-directed fire had 
done its fatal work. General Jenkins fell dead, 
and Longstreet was borne to the rear, with a bullet- 
hole in his throat, the ball having passed out 
through his right shoulder. The wound was not 
mortal, but it had disabled him at a critical mo- 
ment. 

A second time in the thickets of the Wilderness 
had Lee's right hand been struck down by a Confed- 
erate bullet, just in the crisis of a great design. It 
was, at least, a singular coincidence. 

The delay occasioned by this unfortunate acci- 
dent gave the enemy the opportunity they desired. 
Heavy reinforcements were hurried to the threat- 
ened point, and the Brock Road was strongly 
guarded. At length, when General Lee was ready 
to renew the charge, the troops that had given way 
before Longstreet were replaced by fresh masses. 

For an hour they resisted stubbornly the Confed- 
erate attack, but the latter finally prevailed. The 
Federal troops were driven back upon their log 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 239 

breastworks. These at the same time taking fire, 
the scene became one of unexampled grandeur 
and fury. 

The Confederates phanted their colors upon the 
enemy's position, many of the Federal troops hav- 
ing retreated as for as Chancellorsville. A portion 
of Hancock's force afterwards rallied and regained 
possession of their abandoned breastworks, when 
darkness soon afterwards terminated the contest. 

General Ewell, on the left, after repeatedly re- 
pelling the attacks of Sedgwick, at length or- 
dered General Gordon to assail the Federal line. 
He drove them in confusion for a distance of 
two miles, capturing Brigadier-Generals Seymour 
and Shales, with a greater portion of their com- 
mands. But the tangled undergrowth impeded 
his progress, and in the gathering twilight, becom- 
ing separated from his supports, he was forced 
to return. With a larger command this brilliant 
exploit would, doubtless, have resulted in the entire 
rout of the Federal right wing. 

The losses in the battles of the Wilderness were, 
on the Confederate side, one thousand killed and 
six thousand wounded, making a total of seven 
thousand. The Federal loss greatly exceeded this, 
amounting in all, killed, wounded, and captured, 
to twenty thousand men. 



240 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

"Bj the left Flank " — The Battles at Spottsylvania Court-House 
— Sheridan's Raid — Death of Stuart. 

OX the following day, May 7th, General Grant 
took up his march for Spottsylvania Court- 
House. Pie had become convinced that it was im- 
possible to drive General Lee from his fi'ont; yet, 
though foiled in his first plan, he still hoped to place 
himself between Lee and Richmond. 

Lee had divined this movement, and that night 
General Anderson, who commanded Longstreet's 
corps, was ordered to march to the Court-House, 
where he was soon followed by the rest of the 
army. 

Warren's corps, forming the advance of the 
Federal troops, was checked and impeded in its 
progress by Fitz-Lee's cavalry. Supposing Long- 
street's men to be a portion of the dismounted cav- 
alry, his column pushed on, when a heavy fire from 
the Confederate line caused them to recoil in con- 
fusion. Another attempt was made, after the whole 
corps had come up, to break through the Confed- 
erate line, but without success. 

Later in the evening the 6th corps arrived ; and 
attacking Ewell before he had brought up his whole 
line, drove him back a short distance, capturing 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 241 

some of his men, but siifFering more loss than they 
inflicted. 

On the morning of the 9th, both armies were con- 
centrated, the Confederates on the soutli bank of 
the river Po, enclosing in their lines Spottsylvania 
Com^t-House; the Federals on the north bank of 
the river. 

General Grant had been a second time out-gen- 
eralled. Though both armies marched by roads of 
nearly equal length, General Lee had succeeded in 
gaining the position his adversary coveted. Grant 
had only the alternative of fighting him where he 
was, or marching on further by the left flank to 
^^ manoeuvre " him into abandoning his position. 
But as his policy was '' never to manoeuvre," he 
prepared to give battle. 

General Lee had thrown up earthworks, and was 
protected also by the dense undergrowth. His 
right, occupied by Longstreet's corps, extended 
from the river towards the Court-House in a north- 
erly direction. Ewell held the centre, and Hill the 
left. 

Hancock held the right of the Federal line, 
Warren the centre, and Burnside the left. 

On the evening of the 9th, Hancock was sent 
across the river to intercept some Confederate 
wagon-trains, but darkness coming on, they reached 
the protection of the Southern line unobserved. 
While recrossing his command, May 10th, one of 

21 Q 



242 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

Hancock's divisions was assailed by a portion of 
Hill's corps, and driven some distance, losing hea- 
vily, but at length regaining its position. 

At the same time, General Warren made an at- 
tack upon the division of General Field, belonging 
to Longstreet's corps, and was driven back after 
twelve assaults.* 

Hancock uniting with Warren at five o'clock, the 
attack Vvas renewed, and the fighting became heavy 
and desperate. At length the Federal troops had 
gained the breastworks on the extreme left, but 
they did not hold them long. The Confederates 
dislodged and drove them back, repelling another 
charge made just before nightfall with equal gal- 
lantry. This ended the attack on the Confederate 
left. 

The 6th corps assailed Ewell's left, succeeded in 
breaking through the divisions of General Eodes, 
and captured nine hundred of his men, with six 
pieces of artillery. But Rodes finally recovered his 
line, driving the enemy back and recapturing his 
guns. 

* "The men struggled bravely against an impossible task, and 
even entered the enemy's breastworks at one or two points; but 
they soon wavered and fell back in confusion and great slaughter. 
Notwithstanding the disastrous upshot of this assault, the experi- 
ence of which had taught the troops that the work assigned them 
was really hopeless, a second charge was ordered an hour after 
the failure of the first. The repulse of this was even more com- 
plete than that of the former effort ; and the loss in the two at- 
tacks was between five and six thousand, while it is doubtful 
whether the enemy lost as many hundreds." — Swinton. 



1864] GENEKAL ROBERT E. LEE. -243 

This affair, siniiiltaneous with the combined at- 
tack on Hill, closed the day's engagement. 

Hitherto, Grant's principal efforts having been 
directed toward General Lee's left, the latter with- 
drew his forces from other points to strengthen 
what seemed likely to be the main point of attack. 

But General Grant had discovered the centre to 
be the most assailable part of the line. Here pro- 
jected a portion of the w^orks forming what was 
called the " Horse Shoe." It was a salient thrown 
out to protect a hill in front, in order to keep the 
enemy from occupying it with their artillery. 

The whole of the 11th was spent by General 
Grant in disposing his troops for an assault on this 
point. Hancock's corps was to make the attack, 
supported by the remainder of the arm}^ 

By daybreak on the morning of the 12th the 
attack commenced. Through some misapprehen- 
sion of orders, the artillery had been removed the 
night before, and the Confederate infantry. General 
Edward Johnson's division, received unsupported 
the charge of the assailing column. 

They resisted with desperate bravery, struggling 
hand-to-hand in the trenches. The contest was 
iierce but of short duration. The cheers of the 
enemy soon proclaimed that they had accomplished 
their object. Before Johnson could be reinforced, 
the Horse Shoe was in possession of the assailants. 
General Johnson, with over three thousand of his 



244 



A POPULAR LIFE OF 



[1864. 



men, was captured, together witli twenty-five guns 
hurried to the spot too late to be of use. 

Pressmg on, Hancock was now confident of 
breaking through the whole line and driving apart 
the two wings of Lee's army; but Ewell had 
promptly thrown forward the remainder of his 
corps, and the advance of the Federal force was 
stayed. Grant now ordered an attack on the Con- 
federate right and left, thinking Lee must have 
greatly weakened them to meet with such firmness 
the formidable assault of his troops in their front. 
But at these points also the charge was met and 
repelled with vigor. 




Lee to the Rear.' 



186L] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 245 

The battle lasted through the entire day. At 
night General Lee, though he had not been able to 
recover the position lost from Johnson, had resisted 
every attempt to break through his interior line, 
and Grant was forced to acknowledge that the ad- 
vantage gained did not prove decisive."^ 

* A remarkable incident occurred in the battles around Spott- 
sylvania Court-llouse, which is narrated in the following corre- 
spondence : 

" Annapolis, Dec. 4, 1865. 

"My dear Sir: — Our acquaintance in former years was so 
slight that I hardly feel justified in taking the liberty of address- 
ing a letter to you. Still I will venture to do so, that I may make 
inquiry about the truth of an incident, an account of which was 
published during the war, and which impressed me more at the 
time than any of the numerous and touching events of that period. 

'•It was stated in substance that during the battle of the Wil- 
derness, or of Spottsylvania, in the early part of the engagement, 
the Confederates were unable to resist the advance of the Federal 
forces, and were compelled to fall back. Regarding the conse- 
quences of a disaster at this juncture of afi'airs as so important 
and fatal, you ordered either General Gregg or General Gordon 
to check this advance, declaring, in the presence of your men, 
your purpose to lead the movement in person. The line was ac- 
cordingly immediately formed for this purpose, and was about to 
advance upon the opposing enemy, when, as the account went, a 
grim, ragged private, from the ranks of a Texas regiment, stepped in 
front, and, in an earnest and determined manner, protested against 
such an act on your part, and declared his unwillingness to move 
an inch until you should retire to your proper position in the 
rear, promising, at the same time, if you did so, to repulse your 
enemy at all hazards ; and that thereupon the whole line assumed 
the same attitude, and you were thus virtually forced to retire, 
but only to witness, in a few moments afterwards, the triumphant 
fulfilment of the promise in the cumplete discomfiture of your 
enemy. 

"This account first appeared in an English paper, and, strange 
to say, was republished, as far as my knowledge goes, in only one 
of our papers (the New York Sun), and which, unfortunately, I 
did not preserve, and therefore am unable to send you the account 
itself. 

"May I take the liberty of asking whether this account be true 
21* 



246 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

Tlie losses in this engagement amounted, on the 
Confederate side, to only seven thousand, while the 
enemy's had heen eighteen thousand. 

" Thus," says a Southern historian, " without 
decisive results — certainly without any appreciable 
advantage on, the ]^[orthern side — had been fought 
a series of battles such as had never been com- 
pressed into so many days in the history of man, 
and such as had never before been exhibited by a 
single army contending against an adversary more 
than three times its numbers." * 

in whole or in part, in order that, if true, I may preserve to his- 
tory your own version of one of the most striking and impres.«ive 
inciilents, in my judgment, of the war — one, more than all others, 
which exemplifies the spirit and genius of the Southern people in 
the great struggle through which they passed. 

" At your leisure I should be very glad to hear from you, and 
beg to subscribe myself, with great respect, 

" Your friend and obedient servant, 

"John Thomson Mason." 

" General Robert E. Lee." 

(answeb.) 

"Lexington., Va., Dec. 7, 1865. 

"My dear Sir: — I regret that my occupations are such as to 
prevent me from writing at present a narrative of the event which 
you request in your letter of the 4th instant. 

"The account you give is substantially correct. General Gor- 
don was the ofi&cer. It occurred in the battles around Spottsyl- 
vania Court-House. 

" With great respect, your friend and servant, 

"R. E. Lee." 

" Hon. John Thomson Mason." 

* An eloquent Northern historian says: "Of all the struggles 
of the war this was, perhaps, the fiercest and most deadly. Fre- 
quently, throughout the conflict, so close was the contest that the 
rival standards were planted on opposite sides of the breastworks. 
The enemy's most savage sallies were directed to retake the famous 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 247 

General Grant now called for reinforcements, and 
while awaiting tliem, remained a week in front of 
Lee, looking for a weak point in liis adversary's 
firm lines, an unguarded pause in liis vigilant w^atcli, 
to see if it were possible to risk another blow. 

At the end of that time he had decided to march 
to the Chickahominy, reaching " by a monstrous 
circuit," (strewn with battle-fields, which had cost 
him an army in itself, forty thousand men,) " a 
point where, ascending the waters of Virginia, he 
might have landed at the very beginning of the 
campaign without loss or opposition." 

In connection with the movement upon Spottsyl- 
vania Court-House had occurred a raid by Sheri- 
dan's cavalry toward Richmond. 

Crossing the South Anna River, they destroyed 
the railroad, and were about to burn Ashland when 
Stuart came up. On the 10th of May, at Yellow 
Tavern, near Ashland, a fight occurred, and the 
great cavalry leader was mortally w^ounded * while 
leading his men to the charge. 

salient, which was now become an angle of death, and presented 
a spectacle ghastly and terrible. On the Confederate side of the 
works lay many corpses of those who had been bayoneted by 
Hancock's men when they first leaped the intrenchments. To 
these were constantly added the bravest of those who, in the 
assaults to recapture the position, fell at the margin of the works, 
till the ground was literally covered with piles of dead, and the 
woods in front of the salient were one hideous Golgotha." 

* He died on the same day of the same month with Stonewall 
Jackson. 



248 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

Stuart had l>een called the Prince Rupert of the 
South. Fond of adventure, and full of reckless dar- 
ing, he was yet the true cavalier in every gentle and 
chivalric virtue; of blameless life and unaifected 
piety, and possessing a military genius unsurpassed 
in his own branch of the service, he stands v»^ith 
Lee and Jackson in the great triumvirate of Vir- 
ginian heroes. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Skirmishing on the North Anna — On to the Chickahominy — The 
Second Battle of Cold Harbor. 







K the 23d of May, General Grant arriving at 
the ]N"orth Anna River, found Lee again con- 
fronting him. lie had marched by a shorter route 
from the Court-IIouse, as soon as it was evident that 
Grant designed moving in this direction, and was 
now established in a very strong position. 

Two miles back of the river lay Hanover Junc- 
tion, where the Fredericksburg and Richmond, and 
the Virginia Central railroads intersected. 

General Lee's right extended to Hanover Junc- 
tion, his left to Little River. His centre was at 
Oxford Mills, close to the river; the two wings 
thrown back, gave to his line the form of the two 



i 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 249 

sides of an equilateral triangle. Both flanks were 
protected by marshes, and also strongly intrenched. 

General Grant resolved to cross his two wings, 
thinking by this movement to compel his adversary 
to leave the river. His right, under Warren, was 
ordered to make the passage at Jericho Ford ; and 
Hancock, on the left, had instructions to cross at 
the Telegraph bridge, about six miles from the 
former point. The Telegraph bridge was guarded 
by a small force, which ottered but sliglit resistance. 
At Jericho Ford there was no guard ; but after 
Warren had crossed, he was met by A. P. Hill be- 
fore reaching the Central railroad, and his advance 
checked. Grant had been suffered to accomplish 
his object. His two army corps were on the south 
side of the river; but General Lee showed no dis- 
position to retire. He had planned his position 
w^ith consummate skill. Grant was lured over the 
river only to find himself in a trap. His two wings 
were separated, cut off from all communications 
south of the river, and should the Confederates 
mass their forces for an attack on either the right 
or left, the other would be totally powerless to ren- 
der any assistance.* 

To extricate himself from this dangerous situa- 
tion. General Grant ordered General Burnside to 
make an attack upon Lee's centre, and drive him 

*A Northern historian says: "The game of war seldom pre- 
sents a more effectual checkmate than was here given by Lee." 



250 A POPULAR LIFE OF [18()4. 

back. He saccceded in crossing one division at 
Oxford Mills, but they met with such a rough re- 
ception, that it was speedily withdrawn. An at- 
tempt made by Warren to communicate with Burn- 
side resulted in similar discomfiture. 

Failing in these efforts, he prudently resolved to 
recross his troops, withdraw from the North Anna, 
and continue his flanldng march. 

General Lee was indeed master of the situation. 
If he had been strong enough to assume the offen- 
sive, he might have made it no easy matter for 
Grant to resume his former position. 

But returning unmolested to the north hank of 
the river. General Grant pushed on to the Pa- 
munkey, where he would have but a short march to 
the Chickahominy, which, if he could place between 
himself and Lee, would put Richmond within his 
grasp. 

On the 28th the Federal army had arrived at 
Hanovertown, where they made the passage of the 
Pamunkey. 

But Lee, prompt to forestall his adversary's plans, 
as soon as it was known that the Federal army had 
marched to the Pamunkey, ordered Ewell forward 
to intercept their advance to the Chickahominy, 
and soon concentrating all his forces on the banks 
of the Tottapotomoi, prepared to contest their 
further progress. Sheridan, in the meanwhile, in 
command of the Federal cavalry, had been sent to 



I 



1864.] GENERAL KOBERT E. LEE. 251 

destroy the Central Railroad. He was met by Fitz 
Lee and driven to liis supports, when the latter fell 
back toward Kichmond. 

Several days of skirmishing; and manoeuvring for 
position preceded the great struggle, which was to 
take place on the old battle-iield of '62, and to be 
known as the " Second Battle of Cold Harbor. '' 

Both armies had been reinforced. Grant by six- 
teen thousand men from Butler's force on the Pen- 
insula; Lee by Breckinridge with two thousand 
men, and the divisions of Hoke and Pickett, mak- 
ing his wholje force about forty-four thousand men. 
General Lee, profiting by his previous knowledge 
of the ground, gained in the campaign of 1862, was 
careful to secure good positions for his troops. 

On the 2d of June both armies Avere in line of 
battle. The Confederates held the ground occupied 
by McClellan in '62, the Federals the old line of the 
Confederates. Lee's left under Ewell was at Atlee's 
Station ; his right under Breckinridge, with a part 
of Hill's corps, held the Cold ILirbor ridge. 

At davvm on the morning of the 3d, Grant opened 
the attack with a charge along the whole line. 
Hancock assailed Breckinridge on the Confederate 
right, and succeeded in driving him from a salient 
in his line, capturing a number of prisoners and 
several guns. But immediately rallying, Breckin- 
ridge soon re-established his line. The Florida 
brigade and Maryland battalion contending with 



252 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

the enemy in a desperate encounter, drove tliem 
back after a short straggle from the works they 
had gahied. Seven times in the short space of 
thirty minutes the attack was renewed, and each 
time Hancock was repulsed with heav}' loss. 

Ewell, on the left, was attacked by Warren and 
Burnside, but with little vigor, and easily repulsed 
the enemy. 

The contest had been decided in half an hour, 
between the hours of eleven and twelve.* The 
Southern loss was not quite twelve hundred; the 
Federal loss had been something terrible, not less 
than thirteen thousand men. 

This enormous disproportion was in a measure 
due to the fact that the Confederates fought behind 
breastworks. 

In the afternoon, General Grant, wishing to renew 
the attack, gave orders to the corps commanders to 
be transmitted to their subordinates ; but when the 
orders reached the men, they refused to advance. 

They felt that they were called upon for a useless 
sacrifice of life. "^N'o man stirred, and the immo- 
bile lines pronounced a verdict, silent, yet emphatic,- 

* " It took hardly more than ten minutes of the figment men 
call time to decide the battle. There was along the whole line a 
rush — the spectacle of impregnable works — a bloody loss — then 
a sullen falling back, and the action was decided 

" The troops went forward 'as far as the example of their offi- 
cers could carry them,' nor was it possible to urge them beyond : 
for there they knew lay only death, without even a chance of vic- 
tory." — SwiNTON : Army of the Potomac. 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 253 

against further slaughter." The battle had been 
decisive, and with it closed the overland campaign. 
On the 6th General Grant had determined to retire 
south of the James, and besiege Kichmond from 
this direction. 

He had been foiled in every successive attack by 
his wary antagonist, and had proved by the reductio 
ad ahsurdum argument, as Swinton observes, the 
futility of the " hammering " mode of warfare un- 
accompanied by manoeuvring. Lee's successes were 
the triumphs of military art over brute force. Tac- 
tical skill, which availed him so Avell in this cam- 
paign against the pressure of mere numbers, when, 
as at Cold Harbor, " the army of the Potomac lost 
at least twenty men to Lee's one," was yet to 
achieve much in the new field of operations. It 
was competent for great results, as the prolonged 
and skilful defence of Petersburg was to testify. 
That it was invincible, when all other supports 
failed, when forbidden to shift his quarters, but at 
bay behind breastworks, with the encircling legions 
of " the Hammerer " fast closing in upon his com- 
munications, he knew was a fatal delusion. But 
the Confederacy believed otherwise ; they had the 
most implicit faith that all was safe as long as he 
was in command of the army. Accustomed to see 
him succeed with small means in foiling his ene- 
mies, they forgot he was mortal and could not always 
command success, however he might deserve it. 



254 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 



CHAPTER XXYI. 

Operations in the Valley — Hunter's Raid — His Cruelty — But- 
ler's Advance from Bermuda Hundreds — Battle of Drewry'a 
Bluff — Grant crosses the James — Attempt to take Petersburg 
by Surprise — Commencement of the Siege. 

rpHE programme of Greneral Grant, at the com- 
-*- mencement of the spring campaign, had em- 
braced two other movements, in connection with 
the advance of the main army; the one having for 
its object the capture of Lynchburg in southwest- 
ern Virginia, the other, under Butler, looking to 
co-operation with Grant from the Peninsula. 

In May, Sigel had been defeated at 'New Market 
by General Breckinridge, but the latter was soon 
afterwards recalled to General Lee's army, leaving 
the forces of Hunter, who had succeeded Sigel, 
with only the small command of General Wm. E. 
Jones to oppose their progress. 

On the 5th of June he was met at Piedmont by 
the Confederates, who were overpowered by supe- 
rior numbers. The gallant General Jones lost his 
life while cheering on his men, and half of his 
small force w^ere made prisoners. 

Continuing his march. Hunter passed through 
Lexington, setting lire to the Military Institute 
and the dwelling of ex-governor Letcher. 

On the 16th, he had reached Lynchburg. His 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 255 

march was marked by ruin and outrage, lighted by 
the glare of burning houses. As he had declared, 
he warred upon the women"^ of Virginia, so he 
spared no opportunity of laying waste their home- 
steads, and destroying their means of subsistence. 

General Lee lost no time in sending a portion of 
his army to the relief of Lynchburg. Ewell's corps, 
under the command of General Early, was detached 
for this service. Before Hunter had completed his 
preparations for assault. Early had arrived with a 
portion of his corps. The attack was made on the 
18th, and repulsed. The remainder of the Confed- 
erate troops arriving, an advance upon Hunter en- 
sued, and the latter was soon in full retreat. Early 
captured thirteen pi-eces of artillery and took a good 
many prisoners, forcing Hunter to retreat by a 
circuitous route, which left open the Valley, thus 
enabling Early to pass into Maryland. 

The greatest damage done by Hunter was the 
destruction of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad 

*When in the Roanoke Valley, he went with two soldiers to 
burn the house of a lady, whose crime was that she had harbored 
a Southern soldier. She pleaded for her children and herself, 
who would thus be left without protection and without shelter. 
"General," she said, "you do not war against women?" "It is 
the very thing I came to do. Madam. I intend to make the women 
feel this war. They are instigating and encouraging the men in 
'rebellion,' and they shall suffer too." He then rode off, leaving 
the two men to carry out his orders ; but the soldiers, more 
humane than their general, and moved by the tears of the poor 
lady, spared the house. This anecdote is given by a lady who 
was present at the time, and several others testify to his having 
used the same langruage to them in similar circumstances. 



256 A POPULAR LIFE OF [18G4. 

for tlie distance of a liiindrGcl and tliirtj-five miles, 
biU it was repaired in sixty days. 

On tlie south side, Butler, early in May, bring- 
ing up liis troops from York River, landed at City 
Point, and threw up fortifications near Bermuda 
Hundreds. 

The country between the Appomattox and the 
James was at this time very poorly defended. 
Petersburg contained but one regiment, and Drew- 
ry's Bluff was garrisoned by a very small force. 

As soon as the Confederate Government w^as 
made aware that active operations might be ex- 
pected in this quarter, measures were taken for its 
protection. General Beauregard was put in com- 
mand of the defences of the south side. With him 
came all the troops that could be spared from 
Charleston, and the divisions of Hoke and Pickett 
were brought up from ^N'orth Carolina. 

Pickett arrived at Petersburg with his division 
on the same day that Butler landed at Bermuda 
Hundreds. 

On the 6th, a skirmish occurred at Port Walthal 
Junction, about half-way between Petersburg and 
Drowry's Bluff, in which the enemy w^ere driven 
back. Butler advanced again on the morning of 
the 7th, and w^as repjulsed by Pickett's division at 
the same point. Pickett, in order to deceive the 
enemy with the idea that reinforcements were com- 
ing into Petersburg, ran the locomotives backwards 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 257 

and forwards all night, but fortunately Butler did 
not attempt to occupy the town. 

On the 9th, however, he proceeded with his 
whole force to Chester, on the railroad between 
Petersburg and Richmond, and dividing his army, 
with one-half facing Richmond, was about to move 
upon Petersburg with the other. At this juncture, 
a despatch from the Federal Government reached 
him that Grant was pressing Lee upon Richmond. 
Butler immediately abandoned his plan of attack- 
ing Petersburg, and turned all his thoughts upon 
Richmond. 

Beauregard arrived on the 13th, and occupied a 
strong line in front of Drewry's Bluff. Butler fol- 
lowing the Confederates to Drewry's Bluff, was 
permitted by Beauregard to occupy his outer line 
of works. Beauresrard was anxious to draw him 

o 

as far as possible from his gun-boats, and deter- 
mined to strike a decisive blow, which, if success- 
ful, would have resulted in the destruction or sur- 
render of his whole command. 

On the morning of the 16th of May, under cover 
of a dense fog, General Beauregard made his at- 
tack. Butler's right was completely broken. The 
attack upon the other wing was not so successful, 
but the advantage gained was sufficient to have in- 
sured the destruction of Butler's army had it not 
been for the extraordinary inaction of General 
Whiting. This officer, who was in Butler's rear at 
22* R 



258 A POPrLAR LIFE OF [1864. 

Port Walthal Junction with a large force, wag 
ordered to throw forward Ms command across the 
neck of land between the two rivers, place himself 
upon the line of retreat, and cut Butler off from his 
base at Bermuda Hundreds. But General AYhiting 
remained stationary at Port Walthal Junction, and 
thus prevented the execution of Beauregard's bril- 
liant scheme. 

During the night of the 16th, Butler withdrew 
his forces to Bermuda Hundreds. By the 1st of 
June his army " was as completely shut off from 
further operations directly against Eichmond," in 
the forcible language of General Grant, "as if it 
had been in a bottle strongly corked." 

On the 12th of June General Grant prepai'ed to 
leave the Chickahominy on his march to the James, 
which he crossed at Wilcox's Landing on the 14th. 
General Lee was well informed as to his adversary's 
movements, but, in the absence of Early, did not 
deem it prudent to attempt to stop his progress. 
He proceeded to put his army in a position to cover 
Richmond, or to march to the defence of Peters- 
burg, in case this should be the object of Grant's 
attack. Grant, it was soon apparent, had resolved 
upon surprising Petersburg, and gaining possession 
of it before Lee could send forward a sufficient 
force to resist him. General Smith was dispatched 
in advance of the main army to carry this plan into 
effect. About six miles from Petersburg he came 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 259 

upon Confederate works, guarded by a small force 
of local militia, made up of men and boys of the 
town, under Captain Farinholt, who fought bravely. 
These works were soon taken ; but advancing upon 
the fortifications nearer the city, he was surprised 
at their strong appearance, and, deceived by the 
steady fire of the Confederates, concluded that their 
force was much greater than he had been led to 
suppose. 

Late in the evening an attack was made upon the 
outer line, and the Confederates, after repulsing 
three successive assaults, at length fell back to the 
inner works. 

Beauregard, seeing the great danger to which 
Petersburg was exposed, detached the greater por- 
tion of his command from Butler's front to aid in 
its defence. 

General Lee, who was advancing as rapidly as 
possible, found Butler menacing the railroads and 
already occupying Beauregard's deserted works. 
Anderson's corps hastened forward, and Pickett's 
division, dashing impetuously upon the enemy, 
drove him back to Bermuda Hundreds, and re- 
established Beauregard's line. 

General Lee, not wishing to bring on a battle at 
this point, gave orders not to press the enemy, but 
to confine themselves to checking Butler's advance. 
But the gallant men of Pickett's division could not 
be held back. 



260 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

^' We tried very hard," wrote General Lee, in a 
complimentary despatcli to the corps commander, 
" to stop Pickett's men from capturing the breast- 
works of the enemy, but could not do it." 

The Federal General in front of Petersburg, in 
the meanwhile, contented himself with holding the 
w^orks he had won, and awaited the arrival of Grant 
to renew the attack. 

General Lee's advanced forces arrived in Peters- 
burg on the night of the 15th. The Federals, re- 
inforced by the arrival of the 9th corps, had as- 
saulted the Confederate works that day about noon, 
and again driven in the besieged forces ; but upon 
General Lee's arrival with fresh troops, the works 
were regained. The attack renewed on the 17th 
and 18th each time proved unsuccessful, Grant 
losing in these assaults ten thousand men. 

It was plain that the " Cockade City " was no 
longer an easy prey, and Grant, becoming con- 
vinced that the city could not now be taken by 
direct assault, intrenched his army and prepared 
for a regular investment. In order to complete his 
operations, it was necessary to get possession of the 
Weldon Railroad, and a force was sent out for this 
purpose on the evening of the 21st. 

General Lee ordered Mahone's division to cut 
them off, which was promptly done. Mahone falling 
upon them, captured several regiments "and a bat- 
tery of guns, returning to his position with equal 
celerity. 



18GL] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 261 

A cavalry party of the enemy was sent off about 
the same time for the purpose of getting possession 
of the raih^oacls south of the Appomattox. After 
partly accoraphshing their work, they were pursued 
by General W. IL F. Lee, and routed by General 
Hampton in an engagement on the 28th. 

Besides a number of prisoners taken, all the artil- 
lery and trains, abandoned in their rapid retreat, 
fell into the hands of the Confederates. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

The Battle of the Crater — Terrible Carnage — Early's Advance 
into Maryland — Battle of Monocacy — In Sight of the Capitol 
— Early Retires to the Opequon. 

AT this time, General Grant's able chief of artil- 
lery and of engineers pronounced an assault 
upon the defences of Petersburg " impracticable." 
These defences extended in a strong line east and 
south of the city, and far enough on the west to 
reach beyond the extreme left of the besieging 
army. Xorth of the Appomattox similar works 
secured it against any attack from Butler. 

There were frequent skirmishes between the op- 
posing forces, but no event of any importance took 
place until the latter part of July, when occurred 



262 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

what is known in the South as the battle of the 
Grater. 

One of Burnside's officers had in June proposed 
a plan by which he deemed the city could be made 
an easy capture. This was to dig a mine under an 
angle of the Confederate works that extended 
within a hundred and fifty yards of the Federal 
line. The fort which occupied this angle destroyed 
by the explosion, a breach would be made through 
which a column of the assailants could rush upon 
the ridge beyond. A lodgment once secured, the 
reduction of the whole line would soon follow. 

The work was planned and executed with the 
greatest secrecy. At length, on the 25th of July, 
the mine was ready. A tunnel five hundred feet in 
length conducted to the magazine, which was di- 
rectly under the Confederate fort. In this were 
placed twelve thousand pounds of powder. 

In order to divert suspicion, and to force Greneral 
Lee to weaken the garrison at Petersburg, General 
Grant detached Hancock's corps to unite with But- 
ler in a feint upon Eichmond. General Lee sent 
off several divisions to meet this demonstration, 
and succeeded in pressing Hancock so heavily as 
to make it evident nothing was to be accomplished 
in this direction. At the same time. Grant, confi- 
dent from the resistance offered to Hancock, that 
Lee had considerably reduced his numbers, ordered 
the former to return with the utmost secrecy on 



\ 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 263 

the 29tli, to take part in the great assault to l)o 
made the following day. 

General Lee, though ignorant of the real state of 
affairs, was not deceived by the movement north of 
the James, and believed that it covered some de- 
sign upon the lines in front of Petersburg. 

At dawn on the morning of the 30th, this design 
suddenly unfolded itself. The Confederates were 
roused from sleep by a terrific explosion, which 
actually hurled the fort into the air. A chasm a 
hundred and fifty feet long, sixty-five feet wude, and 
twenty-five or thirty feet deep, filled the space 
where a moment before the Confederate w^orks had 
been. Instantly, before the clouds of smoke and 
dust had subsided, the fire of the Federal artillery 
opening along the w^hole line, lent its terrors to the 
scene. A Federal corps, fifteen thousand strong, 
advanced quickly to the edge of the crater. It was 
expected they should gain the ridge before the 
Confederates could recover from their surprise and 
alarm. But they halted unaccountably ; a sudden 
irresolution seized them. In the meanwhile, the 
men of Lee, quick to recover their self-possession, 
brought up guns and formed in line. Mahone's di- 
vision was ordered forward to meet the assailants, 
but the latter, after one feeble charge, fell back into 
the fatal pit, upon which the Confederate guns 
poured a destructive fire. Afraid to advance, and 
hesitatins: to encounter the almost certain destruc- 



264 A POPULAK LIFE OF [1861. 

tion which awaited them if thej attempted to cross 
the open space wdiich lay between the pit and their 
ow^n lines, the demoralized and panic-stricken foe, 
black and white commingled, trampled one another 
down in this cavern of death. 

So terrible was the carnage created by the Con- 
federate guns, that General Mahone is reported to 
have turned away, saying, " Stop the fire ; it makes 
me sick." 

In this "miserable affair," as General Grant after- 
w^ards termed it, the Federal loss was four thousand, 
while the Confederate loss had been but a few^ hun- 
dreds. 

A singular verdict was afterwards rendered by 
the Congressional Committee, convened to pro- 
nounce judgment on this afi:air of the mine. " The 
first and great cause of disaster was the employment of 
white instead of black troops to make the charge.'' 

While General Lee was engaged with Grant in 
front of Petersburg, Early, who had driven Hunter 
before him from the Yalley, pushed forward into 
Maryland. By thus threatening the Federal capi- 
tal. General Lee hoped to remove the pressure from 
his front. 

On the 3d of July, Early had reached Martins- 
burg. On the 7th he w^as at Frederick City, from 
which place he could move either upon Baltimore 
or Washington. But some troops had been hastily 
collected to oppose him, under the command of 
General Wallace; and establishing themselves on 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 265 

the left bank of tlie Monocacy near Frederick City, 
prepared to resist the Confederate advance. Gen- 
eral Early attacked them on the 8th. The Federals, 
breaking, retreated in the utmost confusion in the 
direction of Gettysburg, leaving the way open to 
Washington. General Wallace lost a thousand 
killed and wounded in this engagement and seven 
hundred prisoners. 

Leaving Monocacy, General Early reached Eock- 
ville on the 10th, in sight of Washington. Great 
alarm prevailed here and throughout the iTorth at 
the near approach of the " Rebel " leader. From 
the windows of the capitol the Southern flag could 
be plainly distinguished, and the firing of the Con- 
federate skirmishers could be heard in the chambers 
of the White House. 

At last it seemed as if the cherished hope of 
seizing Washington was to be accomplished. But 
General Early hesitated; the long and arduous 
march in the heat of summer had reduced his num- 
bers to eight thousand infantry, which, with two 
thousand cavalry and forty pieces of artillery, made 
up his whole command. They had marched five 
hundred miles, averaging twenty miles a day. 
Many had dropped down on the way, exhausted 
by heat and fatigue. General Early had no means 
of knowing what forces lay behind the strong de- 
fences of Washington, and did not deem it pru- 
dent to attack them. It was afterwards ascertained 

23 



266 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

that a large force under General "Wright, ordered 
to the defence of the capital, had arrived there just 
before Early. 

Falling back from before Washington, General 
Early's rear-guard engaging General Wright, who 
had followed in pursuit, at Snicker's Ferry, the lat- 
ter was repulsed, and returned to Washington. 

Later in July, Early sent a cavalry party into 
Pennsylvania under General McCausland, to burn 
Chambersburg, in retaliation for the outrages com- 
mitted by Hunter in Virginia. 

General Grant, who had at first concluded to 
recall the troops sent from Petersburg, finding 
Early's army remained in the Valley, a standing 
menace to Washington and Pennsylvania, decided 
to leave them under the command of Hunter. A 
new command was organized to be known as the 
Middle Military Division, and given to General 
Hunter. 

General Early brought back with him from Mary- 
land valuable supplies, which were much needed — 
five thousand horses and twenty-five hundred beef 
cattle. 

His movement had been not without success as 
regarded its primary object, justifying the wise 
policy of the Confederate commander-in-chief. 

An army of forty or fifty thousand men were sent 
to watch Early, who had established himself on the 
banks of the Opequon, Grant's forces being depleted 
to this amount. 



1 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 267 



CIIAPTEE XXVIII. 

Battle of Chafia's Farm — Struggles for the Weldon Road — Ream's 
Station — The South Side Road — Hatcher's Run — General 
Lee's Despatch — Reverses in the Valley — Winchester — Fish- 
er's Hill — Cedar Creek — General Lee's Letter to General Early. 

AFTER the failure of the mine no further direct 
attack was made upon Petersburg. General 
Grant sought to extend his hues to the left, in order 
to gain possession of the important railroads, which 
w^ere the avenues of communication between Rich- 
mond and the South. 

At the same time several movements were made 
on the north side of the James, of which the ulte- 
rior object was to draw off attention from the south 
side. 

In August, General Hancock landed at Deep 
Bottom with a large force, from which point it was 
deemed a successful attack might be made on Cha- 
fin's Bluff. Several days of indecisive skirmishing 
were followed, on the 16th, by an assault on the 
Southern position. At first successful, it ended at 
length in the complete repulse of the attacking 
force, the Confederates holding the entire line 
after nine hours' heavy fighting. 

On the 20th Hancock returned to the south 
side, having lost in his fruitless expedition fifteen 



268 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

hundred men. The Confederate loss did not ex- 
ceed five hundred. 

General Lee had long hefore expressed his ina- 
bility to hold the Weldon Road, should the enemy 
make any serious eflbrt to gain it. But, in obedi- 
ence to the wishes of the Government, he endeav- 
ored to retain it as long as possible. Therefore 
when General Grant, in pursuance of the plan al- 
ready intimated, taking advantage of the depletion 
of Lee's lines from the withdrawal of the rein- 
forcements sent to meet Hancock, occupied the 
Weldon Road, it was nothing more than General 
Lee had anticipated. He resolved, however, to 
make an effort to dislodge the Federal force under 
Warren, which held possession of it. On the 19th, 
two divisions of Hill's corps attacked Warren with 
some success, though failing to drive him off*. A 
series of engagements followed, resulting in severe 
losses to the Federals, but they continued to retain 
the road. General Warren reported in this under- 
takinsc a loss of four thousand four hundred and 
fifty-five in killed, wounded, and missing. 

At Ream's Station another engagement ensued, 
on the 25th of August, between Hancock, who had 
been sent up behind Warren, and a portion of A. 
P. Hill's corps. Here the Federal forces were re- 
pulsed with severe loss; Heth's division, making a 
vigorous charge, broke their line, and Hampton's 
cavalry following, completed their discomfiture. 



1864.] GENEEAL ROBERT E. LEE. 269 

But tliis victory did not alter the general result. 
Warren threw up intrenchments and prepared to 
make his position a permanent line. 

In September, another movement was planned 
for an advance upon the north, side. 

Butler moved out towards Chafin's Farm on the 
28th, and, under cover of a movement of Warren's, 
succeeded in capturing Fort Harrison, an impor- 
tant post, from which he threatened the Confederate 
main line. An effort was made subsequently to 
recover this fort, but without success. All attempts 
on the part of Butler, however, to penetrate fur- 
ther towards the Confederate works at Chafin's 
Bluff were repulsed. 

The loss of the Weldon Boad was of minor im- 
portance to the Confederates as long as they re- 
tained the South Side Eoad. This, therefore, was 
the great object to which all General Grant's move- 
ments tended. In October, a final attempt was 
made on a large scale to accomplish its capture 
before the winter set in. 

The troops were put in light marching order. 
Three corps proceeded, on the 27th, to Hatcher's 
Run, leaving a force barely sufiicient to hold the 
works at Petersburg. Hatcher's Run crosses the 
Boydton Road, where the extreme right of the Con- 
federate force was intrenched. Upon nearing the 
Boydton Road, the Confederate line was found to 
extend much beyond the point where they had sup- 

23* 



270 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

posed it terminated, and was, moreover, so strong 
that Hancock hesitated to attack it. 

During the march, a gap occurred between the 
5th corps, which had been sent to Hancock's as- 
sistance, an^ his own immediate command. This 
afforded an opportunity for the Confederates to 
throw a force in between them. Mahone attacked 
Hancock's right, driving it more than a mile. 
Hampton's cavahy closed in upon his rear at the 
same time. Four hundred prisoners and six pieces 
of artillery fell into the hands of the Confederates. 

Later in the day Hancock attacked Mahone, and 
endeavored to regain his former position, but with- 
out success. 

General Lee's despatch of 28th October gives the 
following report of this affair : 

" Headquartees Army Northern Virginia, 

" October 28, 18G4. 

"Hon. Secretary of War. 

" General Hill reports that the attack of General 
Heth upon the enemy on the Boydton Plank E-oad, 
mentioned in my despatch last evening, was made 
by three brigades under General Mahone in front, 
and General Hampton in the rear. Mahone cap- 
tured four hundred prisoners, three stand of colors, 
and six pieces of artillery. The latter could not be 
brought off, the enemy having possession of the 
bridge. 

" In the attack subsequently made by the enemy, 
General Mahone broke three lines of battle, and 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 271 

during the niglit the enemy retreated from the 
Boydton Eoad, leaving his wounded and more than 
two hundred and fifty dead on the field. 

''About nine o'clock p. m., a small force as- 
saulted and took possession of our works on the 
Baxter Road, in front of Petersburg, hut were soon 
driven out. 

" On the "Williamshurg Road, General Field cap- 
tured upward of four hundred prisoners and seven 
stand of colors. The enemy left a number of dead 
in front of our works, and to-day retreated to his 
former position. R. E. Lee." 

Thus ended this ambitious movement. The Con- 
federate outer lines had been found to be quite as 
strong as those around Petersburg. 

In the meantime, events in the Valley had not 
fulfilled the expectations of the army and the 
country. 

General Early had a difiicult task before him. 
The circumstances were very similar to those that 
had called into action the splendid genius of Jack- 
son, and the theatre of war the same that had wit- 
nessed his great feats of arms. 

Sheridan, who had succeeded Hunter, command- 
ed in this Valley campaign not less than thirty 
thousand infantry and ten thousand cavalry. 

General Early's force numbered eight thousand 
five hundred infantrj', and three thousand cavalry, 
badly mounted and badly armed. Notwithstanding 



272 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

this great advantage, Sheridan remained inactive 
through the month of August, and it was not until 
the latter part of September that any movement 
v^^as made. 

On the 19th, the battle of Winchester took place, 
or, as it has been called by E'orthern writers, the 
battle of the Opequon. Thirty thousand infantry 
engaged eight thousand. After several hours of 
hard fighting, during which the Southern forces 
bravely held their ground, at four in the evening 
Sheridan brought up his cavalry. They completely 
enveloped the Confederate left. All the troops 
were closely engaged. There were no forces to 
bring against this overwhelming advance of the 
Federal cavalry. "With their flank turned and hotly 
pressed in front, the Confederates, who had so gal- 
lantly withstood the infantry attack from eleven 
o'clock until four, were compelled to fall back.* 
General Early lost twenty-five hundred prisoners 
and five pieces of artillery. Eetreating through the 
Valley, he took up a position at Fisher's Hill, on 
the Shenandoah, near Strasburg. 

General Early, in his " Memoirs of the Last Year 
of the "War," says of this battle : " As it was, con- 

*"The Confederate cavalry of the Valley, consisting of two 
divisions under Fitz-Lee and Lomax, was at this time in a deplor- 
able condition, materially and morally. 'Our horses,' says a letter 
from a Confederate ofl&cer of this force, 'had been fed on nothing 
but hay for some time, and were quite weak ; and want of dis- 
cipline had greatly demoralized the men.' " — Sicinton.. 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 273 

sidering the immense disparky of numbers and 
equipment, the enemy had very little to boast of. 
I had lost a few pieces of artillery and some very 
valuable officers and men, but the main part of my 
force and all my trains had been saved, and the 
enemy's loss in killed and wounded was far greater 
than mine." 

At Winchester fell the gallant Major-General 
Rodes, to whose valuable counsels General Early 
expressed himself much indebted at this time of 
grave responsibility and trial. 

At Fisher's Hill, on the 22d of September, another 
engagement occurred. It could scarcely be called a 
battle. Early's army now numbered but four 
thousand infantry, and his cavalry was also much 
reduced. Attacked at the same time in front and 
rear, his left resting on ^N'orth Mountain having 
been flanked by an infantry corps. Early was driven 
in disorder, but his line of retreat, kept open at Mil- 
ford by a division of Confederate cavalry under 
General Wickham, enabled him to reach the Blue 
Ridge in safety. 

Sheridan now proceeded to lay' waste the Yalley, 
destroying not only forage and those articles which 
it mio-ht be considered allowable to waste in time 
of war,* hut farming imjilements, and " over seventy 
mills filled with flour and wheat." This has been 

* He says : " I have destroyed 2,000 barns filled with hay and 
farming implements." 

S 



274 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

cliaracterized even by a ^N^orthern writer as a viola- 
tion of the law of nations. After quoting Sheri- 
dan's despatch, he adds, " this dread bulletin recites 
acts, some of which are indefensible." * 

Cooke thus graphically describes the desolation 
caused by this cruel conduct : 

" Before the torches in the hands of his troops, 
houses, barns, mills, farming implements, all dis- 
appeared in flame. "Women and children were 
seen flying by the light of burning dwellings. 
Corn, wheat, and forage, the only supplies left the 
inhabitants, were seized or destroyed. The very 
ploughs and rakes were broken up and rendered 
useless. From the women, gray beards, and chil- 
dren, threatened with starvation, went up a cry to 
God for vengeance on the author of this enor- 
mity." 

As the Northern historian quoted above has 
observed, the desolation of the Palatinate by the 
French armies in 1674, which called down on 
Louvois the censures of the civilized world, was 
not more complete. 

General Early was reinforced at this time by 
Kershaw's division of infantry, and six hundred 
cavalry, and returning to the Yalley, determined 
upon an assault on the Federal position at Cedar 
Creek. A direct attack was deemed too hazardous, 
and a surprise was accordingly planned, consisting 
of a flank movement on the enemy's left. 

* SwiNTON : Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac. 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 275 

On the niglit of the 18th, a cokimii of Confed- 
erate infantry succeeded in getting in their rear. 
The Federal troops were roused from sleep by the 
shouts of the victorious Southerners in their midst. 
The camp, with all that it contained, became the 
prize of the Confederates. Eighteen pieces of 
artillery and fifteen hundred prisoners fell into 
their hands. General Wright, in temporary com- 
mand of the Federal troops, endeavored to rally 
the disorganized masses, but w^ithout success. The 
attack in front, which had followed the flanking 
movement, was equally resistless. The victory 
seemed complete. At Middletown, General "Wright 
had paused. Pursued by the Confederates, he con- 
tinued his retreat, but soon halted again, and, re- 
forming his line, prepared to attack Early in turn. 
The Confederate troops in the meanwhile, attracted 
by the rich spoils of the Federal camp, shamefully 
forgot their duty, and losing all discipline, were in 
no condition to receive the counter-charge. 

The Confederate victory of the morning, in the 
afternoon was changed to defeat. With this morti- 
fying result ended all hopes for the Valley. 

Of this battle, General Early says : 

^' This was the case of a glorious victory given 
up by my own troops after they had won it, and it 
is to be accounted for on the ground of the partial 
demoralization caused by the plunder of the ene- 
my's camps, and from the fact that the men under- 



276 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

took to judge for themselves when it was proper 

to retire 

" I read a sharp lecture to my troops, in an ad- 
dress published to them a few days after the battle, 
but I never attributed the result to a want of cour- 
age on their part, for I had seen them perform too 
many prodigies of valor to doubt that there was an 
individuality about the Confederate soldier which 
caused him to act often in battle according to his 
own opinions, and thereby impair his own effi- 
ciency, and the tempting bait offered by the rich 
plunder of the camps of the enemy's well-fed and 
well-clothed troops, was frequently too great for our 
destitute soldiers, and caused them to pause in the 
career of victory." * 

* General Early was not long afterwards relieved of his com- 
mand in the Valley, upon which occasion Geneial Lee wrote him 
the following considerate letter: 

"Headquarters C. S. Armies, 
"30th March, 1865. 

"Lieutenant-General J. A. Early, Franklin Co., Va. 

"General : — IMy telegram will have informed you that I deem 
a change of commanders in your department necessary; but it is 
due to your zealous and patriotic services that 1 should explain 
the reasons that prompted my action. The situation of affairs is 
such that we can neglect no means calculated to develop the 
resources we possess to the greatest extent, and make them as 
efficient as possible. To this end it is essential that we should 
have the cheerful and hearty support of the people, and the 
full confidence of the soldiers, without which our efforts would 
be embarrassed and our means of resistance weakened. T have 
reluctantly arrived at the conclusion that you cannot command 
the united and willing co-operation which is so essential to 
success. Your reverses in the Valley, of which the public and 
the army judge chiefly by the results, have, I fear, impaired 
your influence both with the people and the soldiers, and would 
add greatly to the difficulties which will under any circum- 
stances attend our militai-y operations in S. W. Virginia. While 
my own confidence in your ability, zeal, and devotion to the cause 



1864.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 277 



CHAPTEK XXIX. 

Winter in the Trenches — Sufferings of the Troops — " Zfis Mise- 
rables''^ — Disasters in the South — Depression of the People — 
General Lee appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate 
Armies — Failure of Peace Negotiations — Proposed Enlistment 
of Negroes. 

AFTER the " great reconnoissance " in October, 
tlie armies around Petersburg went into win- 
ter-quarters. Xo extensive movement could be car- 
ried on at this season. In December, however, 
another attack was made on the Weldon Road, for 
the purpose of extending the Federal lines further 
southward. Hampton encountered Warren's pick- 
ets and drove them in, repulsing the latter at Bell- 
field; but Warren succeeded, before Hampton ar- 
rived, in destroying a considerable portion of the 

is unimpaired, I have nevertheless felt that I could not oppose 
what seems to be the current of opinion, witliout injustice to 
your reputation and injury to the service. I therefore felt con- 
strained to endeavor to find a commander who would be more 
likely to develop the strength and resources of the country, and 
inspire the soldiers with proper confidence ; and to accomplish 
this purpose, I thought it proper to yield my own opinion, and to 
defer to that of those to whom alone we can look for support. I 
am sure that you will understand and appreciate my motives, and 
no one will be more ready than yourself to acquiesce in any meas- 
ures whicli the interests of the country may seem to require, re 
gardless of all personal considerations. 

" Thanking you for the fidelity and energy with which you 
have always supported my efforts, and for the courage and devo 
tion you have ever manifested in the service of the country, I am, 
very respectfully and truly, 

" Your obedient servant, 

"R. E. Lee, General." 
24 



278 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

road. With the exception of continual picket- 
firing, all was now quiet. But winter, though 
bringing with it exemption from active duty, fear- 
fully increased the sufferings and privations of the 
poor soldiers of the South. 

At one time during this last month of '64, Gen- 
eral Lee had but nine days' rations for his army. 
Owing to the want of warm clothing and short 
rations, desertions became more and more frequent. 
Fortunately, the arrival of several ships at Wilming- 
ton, loaded with supplies, enabled the Government 
to reUeve the army in this great emergency. 

Cooke, in one of his interesting books about the 
war, gives a graphic picture of their condition at 
this period of the struggle : 

" They had a quarter of a pound of rancid ' l^assau 
bacon,' from New England, for daily rations of 
meat. The handful of flour or cornmeal which 
they received was musty. Cofiee and sugar were 
doled out as a luxury now and then only ; and the 
microscopic ration became a jest to those who 
looked at it 

" Their clothes, blankets, and shoes were no bet- 
ter — even worse. Only at long intervals could the 
Government issue new ones to them. Thus the 
army was in tatters. The old clothes hung on the 
men like scarecrows. Their gray jackets were in 
rags, and did not keep out the chilly wind sweeping 
over the frozen fields. Their old blankets were in 
shreds, and gave them little warmth when they 



I 



1864.] GENERAL EOBEET E.LEE. 279 

wrapped themselves in them, shivering in the long, 
cold nights. The old shoes, patched and yawning, 
had served in many a march and battle, and now 
allowed the naked sole to touch the hard and frosty 
ground." 

They were indeed " Lee's Miserables."* 
And their noble leader felt keenly the privations 
of his men. He spared no exertion to ameliorate 
the hardships of their condition. .But the Govern- 
ment seemed to find it impossible to make any bet- 
ter provision for its defenders. The cheerfulness 
and composure of General Lee under the pressing 
anxieties of this memorable winter excited the 
wonder and admiration of all who saw him. The 
love and confidence of the soldiers had long been 
his ; and as one by one the armies of the South and 

* "They called themselves Lee's Miserables, . . . and the name 
had had a somewhat curious origin. Victor Hugo's work, Les 
Miserables, had been translated and published by a house in Rich- 
mond; the soldiers, in the great dearth of reading-matter, had 
seized upon it ; and thus, by a strange chance, the tragic story of 
the great French writer had become known to the soldiers in the 
trenches. Everywhere you might see the gaunt figures in their 
tattered jackets, bending over the dingy pamphlets — ' Fantine,' 
*Cosette,' or 'Marius,' or 'St. Denis,' and the woes of 'Jean 
Valjean,' the old galley-slave, found an echo in the hearts of these 
brave soldiers, immured in the trenches and fettered by duty to 
their muskets or their cannon." — Mohun. 

A story went the rounds of the papers at this time, of an old 
woman, who, seeing the notice of one of this series in a booksel- 
ler's shop, " Les Miserables,'' " Fantine," mistook it for a bulle- 
tin from the seat of war. " Lee's Miserables, fainting ! " exclaimed 
the excited old lady, and she went in to ask for further details, 
as her son was " one of them." 



280 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1864. 

West fell back before tlie' foe, leaving Sherman to 
pursue Ills unmolested " march to the sea," allow- 
ing Wilmington, though bravely defended by the 
handful of troops at Fort Fisher, to be lost to the 
South, with its valuable seaport, all eyes turned 
upon General Lee as the one hope of the sorely 
tried nation. In an editorial of the " Examiner " 
of December 29, we have a glimpse of the slate 
of public feeling, and the measure that was clam- 
ored for as a remedy for the evils that were believed 
to exist, namely, the transfer of the supreme mili- 
tary power to General Lee. 

" The Southern States," says this writer, " are 
in no danger so long as the spirit of the people is 
what it has hitherto been. But ]et us not be blind 
to the truth, that there is such a thing possible as a 
decay of national confidence and a death of national 
spirit. There is such a thing as heartbreak for na- 
tions as for individuals. There are such things as 
hopelessness and despair, lethargy and apathy. A 
conviction that all that it will do must come to 
nought, all sacrifices it can make be rendered vain 
by an irremediable cause, — a conviction resting on 
rational grounds, both of reflection and experiment, 
— will produce this state of feeling in any nation, 
however heroic and obstinate 

" iN^othing will remove the cloud, or rather the 
lurid, ill-omened light which now rests on the fu- 
ture, but measures that touch the root of our evil. 
Such a measure there is. . . . It is the creation of 
a new officer' — a commander-in-chief — who shall 



1865.] GENEEAL ROBERT E. LEE. 281 

exercise supreme control over the armies and mili- 
tary affairs of this Confederacy ; and the appoint- 
ment of General Lee to be that officer." 

"With the beo'innino^ of the 'New Year came ru- 

o o 

mors of peace, and the public mind was greatly ex- 
cited by the secret visit of Mr. Blair to Richmond. 
In the meanwhile, General Lee's army, dimin- 
ished to thirty-three thousand men, was stretched 
along a line forty miles in extent ; and Grant con- 
fronted this feeble line with not less than a hundred 
and sixty thousand. That General Lee should have 
succeeded so long in keeping this host at bay, is a 
proof of his consummate genius. Swinton says of 
these operations around Petersburg : 

" The success of the Confederate tactics was 
wonderful. Each movement, saving that of the 
Weldon Railroad, which was conducted on a differ- 
ent principle, ending in a check, generally accom- 
panied by one or more thousand prisoners. The 
aggregate of captures made by the enemy in these 
successive swoops is astonishing." 

In February, the last of these movements was 
made by Grant, in which he established himself on 
Hatcher's Run. A fight took place between the 
Federal troops and Hill's and Gordon's corps. 

On the 6th, Pegram's division was hotly engaged. 

" The battle was obstinately contested for several 
hours ; but General Pegram being killed while 
bravely encouraging his men, and Colonel Hoffman 

24 * 



282 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

wounded, some confusion Occurred, and the division 
was pressed back to its original position. Evan's 
division, ordered by General Gordon to support 
Pegram's, charged the enemy and forced him back, 
but was in turn compelled to retire. Mahone's di- 
vision arri\dng, the enemy was driven rapidly to his 
defences on Hatcher's Run." * 

The Federal loss was two thousand men ; the Con- 
federate loss, one thousand. General Grant had 
extended his lines two or three, miles, but had ad- 
vanced no nearer to the South Side Road. Indeed, 
as pointed out by a Northern historian, all Grant's 
movements to the left, after reaching the Weldon 
Road, had resulted in carrying him farther away 
from the object of these expeditions ; ^' for Lee, by 
thrusting his right southward along the Boydton 
Plank Road, caused the Union intrenched line to 
run in the contrary direction to that of the South 
Side Railroad." f 

A da}^ or two after this affair. General Lee re- 
ceived his appointment as Commander-in-Chief, 
which had at length passed the House. With char- 
acteristic modesty, he rather shunned than courted 
a position of such high responsibility. His rela- 
tions also with the President, always of the most 
friendly nature, made him hesitate to accept an 
office which might seem to clash with the preroga- 
tives of the Executive. But the combined voice of 
rulers and people had elected him as the tried spirit 

* General Lee's Report. f Swinton. 



1865.] GENEKAL ROBERT E. LEE. 283 

best fitted to deliver them from the perils fast clos- 
ing in on every side. He could not refuse; but 
the confidence came too late. 

About this time, the result of the conference be- 
tween the Peace Commissioners at Fortress Monroe, 
became known. President Davis had made " Inde- 
pendence " the basis upon which alone peace could 
be established. Popular indignation was roused to 
the utmost when the humiliating proposals of the 
enemy were made known. Mass meetings in Pich- 
mond attested the spirit and resolution of the people, 
stung to new exertions by the thought of what fail- 
ure would bring to them. Patriotic resolutions 
from the army were sent to the daily papers, in 
which they declared their determination to " con- 
secrate anew " their lives and fortunes to the sacred 
cause for which they had battled so long. 

*' There is a profound and powerful spring of 
revivified passion, wrath, and resolve in our Con- 
federate people," says the " Examiner." '' The 
high and keen military spirit of the war's first year 
flames up again; and that tide is rising which, 
taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." The spirit 
was there indeed, but how to utilize it to the great 
end in view ? 

General Lee needed more men. But if the Gov- 
ernment could with difliculty sustain those already 
in the field, how arm and equip new levies ? how 
feed them ? The proposal to use negro troops had 



284 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

met with great opposition in the early part of the 
war by the people generally. But on the failure of 
the conscription, which it had been estimated would 
put four hundred thousand troops in the service, a 
bill was brought forward in the House, in JS'ovem- 
ber, providing for the enlistment of negroes. Gen- 
eral Lee was in favor of the measure, and in Febru- 
ary wrote a letter to the House expressing his views 
on the subject. In this communication, he says: 

" I think the measure not only expedient, but 
necessary. The enemy will certainly use them 
against us if he can get possession of them ; and as 
his present numerical superiority will enable him 
to penetrate many parts of the country, I cannot 
see the wisdom of the policy of holding them to 
await his arrival, when we may, by timely action 
and judicious management, use them to arrest his 
progress." 

He gives it as his opinion that they would make 
good soldiers, if properly trained; and adds, "I 
think those who are employed should be freed. It 
would be neither just nor wise, in my opinion, to 
require them to serve as slaves." 

The bill, which passed the House in March, too 
late to be of any practical use, was wanting in the 
marks of wisdom and justice here indicated, as it 
provided for the use of slaves at their master's 
option without freeing them. 

In the latter part of February, a correspondence 
between General Lee and General Grant took place, 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 285 

arising out of a misapprehension of the Federal 
General Orel, with regard to the subject of opening 
peace negotiations by means of a military conven- 
tion. But General Grant professed to have no 
power to act except in matters of a purely military 
character. 

This ended the last effort for peace. It was now 
felt that the struggle must be fought out to the 
bitter end. J^one dreamed how near that end was. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

General Lee's Order Assuming Command of the Confederate 
Forces — Fight at Hare's Hill — At Five Forks — Last Days at 
Petersburg — Gallant Defence of Fort Gregg. 

/n EXERAL LEE having accepted the new office 
^ conferred upon him, issued the following gen- 
eral order : 

Headquarters Confederate Army, 
February 9, 1865. 

" General Order, Xo. 1. 

" In obedience to General Order, Xo. 3, Adjutant- 
and Inspector-General's Office, 6th February, 1865, 
I assume command of the military forces of the 
Confederate States. Deeply impressed with the 
difficulties and responsibility of the position, and 
humbly invoking the guidance of Almighty God, 
I rely for success upon the courage and fortitude of 
the army, sustained by the patriotism and firmness 



28G A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

of llic people, confident that their united effort.^, 
under the blessing of Heaven, will secure peace and 
independence. 

*' The headquarters of the arm}^ to which all 
special reports and communications will be ad- 
dressed, will be, for the present, w^itli the army of 
!N"orthern Virginia. The stated and regular returns 
and reports of each army and department will be 
forwarded, as heretofore, to the office of the Adjutant- 
and Inspector-General. 

'' E. E. Lee, General." 

A ISTorthern editor, commenting on this appoint- 
ment, and one of its first results, — the evacuation 
of Charleston, — writes : 

" It has been said that the rebellion was a shell ; 
the shell is ours, and while we hold the worthless 
fragments, its invulnerable core, the great, strong 
heart, defies and baffles us. 

'' To one who trul}^ conceives the meaning of the 
change of policy that has been inaugurated by the 
abandonment and destruction of Charleston, the 
shadow of coming battles looks darker and more 
vast than ever before. To one brain, we know how 
fertile the resources, — to one heart, we know how 
firm and true, — to one intellect, we know how 
gifted with martial attributes, — to one man, we 
know how capable to plan, to strike, to thwart, to 
retrieve error, or to take advantage of it, the mili- 
tary fortunes of the South have been confided." * 

* New York News, Feb. 22. 



1865.] GENERAL EGBERT E. LEE. 287 

But the policy here foreslmdowed it was not per- 
mitted him to carry out. Had the evacuation of 
Petersburai: and Richmond followed that of 
Charleston, the war would doubtless have been 
prolonged to a successful issue. 

General Lee knew that the line he held, already 
so attenuated, could not be stretched much farther. 
AV^ith the opening of the spring campaign. Grant 
w^ould make a linal effort to take the South Side 
Eoad, and this lost, all was lost. General Lee's 
plan was therefore — giving up these two cities, 
which he well knew could not be much longer de- 
fended — to move his army into l^orth Carolina, and 
there effect a junction with the army of General 
Johnston. "With the two armies united in the 
interior, a new lease of life would be gained for 
the tottering fabric of the Confederacy. But the 
Government opposed the views of the commander- 
in-chief. General Lee then abandoned his intention, 
yielding to the considerations which represented 
the bad moral effect likely to result from the volun- 
tary^ surrender of the Confederate capital. 

In the latter part of March General Lee prepared 
to assume the offensive. Since it was decided to 
maintain the defence of Petersburg, it was impera- 
tive that a bold effort should be made to relieve the 
Confederate right from the heavy pressure upon it, 
and by striking a blow at Grant in the opposite 
direction, ward off the danger that menaced the 



288 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

Sou til Side Eoacl. An attack on tlie Federal cen- 
tre, east of Petersburg, would oblige Grant to draw 
in his left. A Confederate force wedo^ed in between 
the two wings threatening the City Point Railroad, 
by w^hich Grant received most of his supplies, 
would materially alter the aspect of affairs. Then, 
while Grant was massing troops in his front to re- 
sist their further advance, General Lee could, in 
the event of his weakness rendering it necessary, 
withdraw his army silently by the South Side Road 
and retire into E"orth Carolina, as he had first pro- 
posed. 

Such was the daring and brilliant scheme which 
General Lee had fixed upon to extricate himself 
from the perils of the situation. 

General Gordon commanded that portion of the 
line immediately in front of Petersburg, his force 
consisting of tliiee small divisions. General Long- 
street held the Confederate left, which extended 
north of the James; and General A. P. Hill com- 
manded the right, ending at Hatcher's Run. 

To Gordon, therefore, fell the task assigned for 
the 25th of March. The assault was to be made on 
Harems Hill, distant from the Confederate line less 
than two hundred yards. 

Fort Steadman, the first of the Federal works at 
this point, w^as stormed at daylight by General Gor- 
don, with his three or four thousand men, and the 
enemy, completely surprised, fell back before their 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 289 

impetuous charge, witli tlie loss of five hundred 
prisoners. The fort was in the hands of the Con- 
federates; it only needed that this gallant begin- 
ning should he supported, to complete the success 
of the movement. But this was not done ; and the 
neighboring forts, opening their fire, poured their 
destructive volleys upon him from every side. 
General Gordon found himself surrounded, and 
could with difiiculty effect the retreat of the rem- 
nant of his small force. Two thousand were dead 
or in the hands of the enemy. 

With the failure at Hare's Hill ended the last ag- 
gressive movement of the army of ]^orthern Vir- 
ginia. But General Lee did not lose confidence. 
He had no thought of surrender, and awaited 
calmly the decisive struggle. 

His slow and cautious adversary had at first re- 
solved to wait the arrival of Sherman before risking 
a general attack. But, afraid that Johnston would 
come to Lee's aid should Sherman leave the Koan- 
oke, he determined to make the assault without fur- 
ther delay. 

A timely and important reinforcement decided 
him at this juncture. Sheridan, who had been 
directed to march to E'orth Carolina to cut off Gen- 
eral Lee's retreat, — an event daily expected by Grant, 
— prevented by the condition of the river from 
carrying out this programme, had brought his ten 
thousand cavalry to operate with General Grant. 

25 - T 



290 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

The Federal army, now numbering seventy thou- 
sand men, strong in the consciousness of over- 
whelming numbers, prepared to hurl themselves 
against the thin line that had so long and so skil- 
fully parried every blow hitherto aimed against it. 

On the 29th, a strong column, twenty-five thou- 
sand men in all, moved towards the South Side Eoad. 
To meet this movement upon his right. General Lee 
was forced to strip his lines elsewhere ; and collect- 
ing with difficulty seventeen thousand men, he hur- 
ried them forward to oppose the enemy's advance. 

Detached from the main line of intrenchments, 
and about four miles further west, the Confederates 
held an important work. This point was known as 
rive Forks, from the circumstance of several roads 
meeting here. The possession of Five Forks would 
give the enemy a great advantage, and it was thither, 
therefore, that the contest drifted. 

Sheridan, moving in advance of the infantry 
column, occupied Dinwiddle Court-House, eight 
miles south of Five Forks ; and on the 31st moved 
on towards that point. Here he was encountered 
by an infantry force of the Confederates under 
Pickett and Bushrod Johnson, and driven back 
within two miles of the Court-House. 

On the 1st of April, Sheridan, now joined by 
Warren, advanced again upon Five Forks. The 
Confederates, shut up within their works, pressed 
flank and rear by the Federal troops, at length gave 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 291 

way. " Yet, vital in all its parts, what of the two 
divisions remained still continued the combat with 
unyielding mettle. Parrying the thrusts of the 
cavalry from the front, this poor scratch of a force 
threw back its left in a new and short crotchet to 
meet the advance of Warren, who continued to 
press in at right angles to the White Oak Road." * 
But it was of no avail. Five Forks was lost, and 
the Confederate right broken and well-nigh anni- 
hilated. Simultaneously with the attack on the 
right, the Federal batteries opened along the whole 
line. " The days thundered, and the nights were 
like the days. From the White Oak Road west of 
Petersburg, to the Williamsburg Road east of Rich- 
mond, cannon glared and roared, musketry rattled, 
mortar-shell rose, described their fiery curves like 
flocks of flame-birds, burst and rained their iron 
fragments in the trenches. The cannoneer, sighting 
his gun, fell by bullets entering the embrasure ; the 
musketeer, who sank to sleep in the trenches for an 
instant, was torn asunder by the mortar-shells, and 
never woke." f Such were some of the horrors of 
the last days at Petersburg. At dawn, on the morn- 
ing of the 2d, the assault began at different points 
along the line. A heavy column was thrown for- 
ward on Gordon's position, who fell back upon the 
inner line of works, and there held his ground 

*Swinton: Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac. 
f Cooke : Hammer and Rapier. 



292 A POPULAil LIFE OF [1865. 

firmly. On the right of Gordon, A. P. Hill's left, 
feebly held by artillerists, was unable to withstand 
the Federal charge. 

The enemy, pressing forward, seemed about to 
cut the Confederate army in two, and bring upon 
them irretrievable disaster. 

But just in rear of this part of the line were 
placed two fortifications, which, if held, would 
enable General Lee to bring in his lines to the 
works immediately around the city, and insure the 
safety of the army. 

Both forts were thinly garrisoned. Tort Alex- 
ander fell after a brief though brave resistance. 
Fort Gregg was now the last hope. The devoted 
garrison knew how much depended on their valor, 
and resolved to be not unworthy of the trust. This 
small force consisted of a Maryland battery, under 
Captain Chew, some dismounted drivers — Virgin- 
ians and Louisianians — a part of Harris's Missis- 
sippi brigade, with a few ^orth Carolinians, in all 
two hundred and fifty men, the whole commanded 
by Captain Chew. The Federals, confident of an 
easy victory, advanced within fifty yards of the 
fort, when the Confederates opened upon them 
with a determined fire. Again and again they ad- 
vance, each time the noble little band receiving the 
charge with undiminished valor. Cheers from the 
Confederates within the inner lines greet each 
repulse of the advancing column ; but no help can 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 293 

be sent them, and it is evident they must at length 
succumb. Every man is needed at his post, to re- 
sist the attacks upon the rest of the line. But when 
the Federal flag waves over the captured fort, the 
object for which they strove is accomplished. Gen- 
eral Lee's army is safe within the interior fortifica- 
tions. 

In this valiant defence of Fort Gregg, out of two 
hundred and fifty, but thirty men survived. The 
enemy's loss was between five and six hundred, two 
for each Confederate killed. 

" And to the illumined story of the army of 
Northern Virginia, Fort Gregg gave a fitting con- 
clusion, an ornament of glory that well clasped the 
record of its deeds." * 

* Pollard's Lost Cause. 
25* 



294 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 



CHAPTEK XXXI. 

Death of General A. P. Hill — Evacuation of Petersburg and 
Richmond — The Army without Rations — The Consequent 
Delay — The Retreat to North Carolina Cut Off — Loss of 
Ewell's Corps — A Council of War. 



F 



i-OIvT Gre2:o^ fell at 7 o'clock on the morning of 



tlie 2d of April. A few hours later, General 
Lee liad been reinforced by Longstreet, wlio, find- 
ing the Federal force in front of him to be nothing 
more than a mask, joined his command to the lines 
defending Petersburg in time to check the enemy's 
advance. The Confederates now held a strong in- 
terior line, against which repeated assaults made 
by the besieging forces were successively repulsed. 
An offensive demonstration was also made by a 
portion of General Lee's army, under A. P. Hill, 
the object of which was to recover some important 
ground on the left. The attack was made with 
great spirit, pressing the Federal corps opposing 
them so closely as to make it necessary for them to 
require reinforcements; but the Southern troops 
were at length compelled to withdraw. 

In this movement, General A. P. Hill lost his 
life. This gallant officer had served through the 
entire war with great distinction. 

General Lee held Petersburg when night closed 
in. But as the Federal forces occupied all the 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 295 

country south of tlie Appomattox to tlie South Side 
Road, it was absokitely necessary to evacuate tlie 
city. ISTotice was forwarded to Richmond of the 
intended retreat. 

The tobacco and cotton stored in the warehouses 
of Petersburg were consigned to the flames ; and 
every preparation being completed, the army silent- 
ly withdrew under cover of the darkness, and 
marching by the north bank of the Appomattox, 
had, by the morning of the 3d, advanced seventeen 
miles on their route. Augmented by the troops 
that had held the line of the James, and Swell's 
command from Richmond, the army now amounted 
to twenty thousand men. The soldiers were in fine 
spirits. 

^' They were out of the trenches and in the bud- 
ding woods. They were moving, not massing; 
going to fight, not to stand a siege in ditches full 
of mud and water; and Lee, on his gray horse, was 
leading them." * 

The Commander-in-Chief was not less hopeful. 
" I have got my army safe out of its breastworks," 
he is reported to have said, "and in order to follow 
me, the enemy must abandon his lines, and can de- 
rive no further benefit from his railroads or James 
River." 

General Lee's object was to march by way of the 

* Cooke : Hammer and Rapier. 



29t) A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

Danville Railroad, cut tlirongli any force of the 
enemy's cavalr}^ that might be in his path, and thus 
make his way into ITorth Carolina. Grant's cavalry 
were at Dinwiddle Court-House, and he had the 
shorter and interior route, by which, with diligence, 
he might bring up his army and cut off General 
Lee's retreat at Burkesville Junction. But General 
Lee rightly concluded that Grant would divide 
his army to facilitate the pursuit, and reckoned, by 
rapid marching, h"^ could effect his purpose before 
the Federal infantry could mass in any sufficient 
numbers on his line of retreat. 

But an important element in this calculation was 
the question of food. The army had carried with 
them but one ration. Orders had been given that 
a supply should meet them at Amelia Court-House. 
Through a misunderstanding of some kind, the 
cars coming up from the South were sent on 
from Amelia Court-House, without unloading, to aid in 
carrying off the Government property; and the 
supplies upon which depended the safety of Lee's 
army, were lost in the conflagration and confusion 
that marked the expiring hours of the Confederate 
capital. 

The brave heart must now have faltered, the 
bronzed cheek blanched, under this unforeseen and 
appalling calamity. 

The army had marched through mud and wet, 
enduring hunger and fatigue — delaj^ed by the ris- 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 297 

ing river, which must he crossed to the south side — 
huoyed up by the thought that the means of reUef 
were near at hand by which to gain new strength 
and endurance for the perilous journey. 

When, at the end of the three days' march, they 
struck the Danville Road at Amelia Court-House, 
the bitterness of disappointment awaited them. It 
was impossible for starving men to march and fight. 
It was necessary to accept the dangerous delay thus 
forced upon them — to break up a part of the forces 
into foraging parties, to procure from the impover- 
ished country around them what scanty means of 
subsistence could be had. 

This gave General Grant the advantage he needed. 
General Sheridan with twenty thousand cavalry, 
far in the van of the main army, reached Jetersville, 
on the Danville Road, on the same afternoon that Lee 
arrived at the Court-House. On the following day, 
the 5th, he was joined by General Meade with two 
corps of infantry. Thus General Lee's retreat to 
E'orth Carolina was cut ofi", while his troops were 
scattered about looking for bread. The only course 
now was to turn off in a westward direction, to 
Farmville, from whence, retreating to Lynchburg, 
he could, in the fastnesses of the Virginia moun- 
tains, still carry on the war. Just as Grant was 
moving up his forces to attack Lee at Amelia Court- 
House, it was discovered he had " slipped past " and 
turned off towards Farmville. General Grant dis- 



298 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

posed his troops to follow him : one column moved 
on the same route, in his rear, the other two by 
parallel lines, north and south of the Confederate 
line — while the Army of the James, as it Avas 
called, haying reached Burkesville, sent forward a 
column to destroy the bridge near Farmville. 

So the '' circle of the hunt " seemed about to com- 
plete itself. But the army of ^N'orthern Virginia 
marched on, still confident in the ability of their 
leader, and despite danger and hardship, ready to 
follow him through all vicissitudes to the hoped-for 
goal. 

Sheridan had been hanging on the Confederate 
flank all along their way, and on the 6th struck 
the wagon-train at Sailor's Creek, a small stream 
emptying into the Appomattox a few miles east of 
Farmville. 

Pickett's division, having the train in charge, 
was so sorely pressed that it was necessary to send 
to General Ewell for reinforcements. The latter, 
promptly bringing up his corps, began making his 
dispositions to resist the Federal charge, when it 
was discovered that Gordon's corps, forming the 
rear-guard of the army, had taken another route ; 
and the enemy were in his rear, completely cutting 
him off. In the meantime the Federal infantry 
came up, Sheridan advanced, and a hot strug- 
gle ensued. General Ewell soon found himself 
surrounded; but notwithstanding the exhaustion 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 299 

of his men, of whose condition it was said, 
" Many of them were so worn out that they would 
drop the guns which they had just loaded or dis- 
charged, and, regardless of the firing, sink down 
upon the ground and fall asleep," * he held his 
ground for some time, causing the Federal corps to 
fall back under the hot fire of his veterans.f 

The enemy returning to the charge. General Ewell 
found himself overpowered by a force five times his 
own, and was compelled to surrender. This, with 
the loss of the wagons, — four hundred in number, 
and sixteen pieces of artillery, — was an irrepara- 
ble blow. Nearly the whole of Ewell's corps, with 
several general officers, besides General Ewell him- 
self, were in the hands of the enemy. 

It was evening when the affair just narrated had 
taken place ; the Federal forces hurried on to attack 
the rest of the army, when they were met by a wall 
of bayonets and cannon. 

General Lee had hastened with a handful of men 
to erect this barrier between the disordered rem- 
nant of Ewell's corps and the advancing enemy. 

It was a magnificent spectacle, the grim faces of 
these ragged, half-starved veterans, " lit up by the 
glare of the burning wagons, by the horizon all 

* McCabe : Life of Lee. 

f " But even thus environed, these men showed they could still 
exact a price before yielding; and when an advance was made by 
a part of the Sixth corps, they delivered so deadly a fire, that a 
portion of that veteran line bent and broke under it." — Swinton. 



300 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

flaming, above wliicli rose, red and threatening, the 
Federal signal rockets, and in the midst of all, on 
his iron-gray, the old cavalier Lee, sitting calm and 
collected, with a face as unmoved as on some peace- 
ful parade." 

*' Before that rock, bristling with bayonets, the 
Federal wave went back. Mght fell; and with 
cannon thundering upon' the long-drawn line of 
Federal horsemen ready to rush upon his rear, Lee 
continued his retreat, crossing the river at Farm- 
ville, and making for Lynchburg." * 

The Federal column sent to Farmville, encoun- 
tering the head of the Confederate line, was over- 
whelmed and driven back, the Federal officer in 
charge of this expedition losing his life in the 
attack. 

When General Lee had reached Farmville with 
what remained of his army — now reduced to the 
corps of Gordon and Longstreet — intrenchments 
were thrown up for the night on the neighboring 
heights. That evening a council of war was held 
by some of the chief officers, at which General Lee 
was not present. At this meeting three courses 
were proposed, between which it was necessary to 
decide what seemed most expedient to be done : — 
to disband the forces, and let them come together 
as they best could at some specified point ; to en- 
deavor to cut their way through the Federal lines ; 

* Cooke : Hammer and Rapier. 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 301 

or to surrender then and there. The first proposi- 
tion was rejected as unworthy the dignity of the 
army; the second they regarded as apparently 
hopeless ; the third was unwilhngly accepted as the 
only alternative, and this conclusion was communi- 
cated to General Lee by his chief of artillery, Gen- 
eral Pendleton. 

" Surrender ! " he exclaimed. " I have too many 
good fighting-men for that." With his scrupulous 
sense of duty, with his jealous devotion to the 
sacred charge entrusted to him, he felt that the mo- 
ment had not come when he could sa}^, " I have 
done all that I could do ; this alone is left to me." 

But the hour was at hand, and had already thrown 
its dark shadow over the weary remnant of the 
army of ISTorthern Virginia. 

An eloquent foreign critic says: "Brilliant as were General 
Lee's earlier triumphs, we believe that he gave higher proofs of 
genius in his last campaign, and that hardly any of his victories 
were so honorable to himself and to his army as that six days' 
retreat." 
26 



302 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

Starvation and Death — The Veterans still march and fight — 
General Grant proposes a Surrender — Correspondence between 
the two Commanders — Preparations for another Battle — The 
White Flag — The Surrender — Interview between General Lee 
and General Grant. 

rnHE sufferings of the soldiers of Lee find few 
-■- parallels in history. A Xortliern writer has 
said : " One would have to seek its like in what be- 
fell upon the snowy wastes of Muscovy in 1812." 
They have been vividly and faithfully described in 
the narrative of a young Englishman who was with 
the army at the time. 

'^ . . . The sufferings of the men from the pangs 
of hunger have not been approached in the mijitary 
annals of the last fifty years. But the sufferings of 
the mules and horses must have been even keener, 
for the men assuaged their craving by plucking the 
buds and twigs of trees just shooting in the early 
spring ; whereas the grass had not yet started from 
its winter sleep, and food for the unhappy quadru- 
peds there was none. ... It is easy to see that the 
locomotion of an army in such a plight must have 
been slow and slower. . . . Upon the 5th, many of 
the mules and horses ceased to struggle. It became 
necessary to burn hundreds of wagons. At inter- 
vals the enemy's cavalry dashed in and struck the 
interminable train here or there, capturing and 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 303 

burning dozens upon dozens of wagons. Towards 
the evening of the 5th, and all day long upon the 
6th, hundreds of men dropped from exhaustion, and 
thousands let fall their muskets from inability to 
carry them any farther. The scenes of the 5th, 6th, 
7th, and 8th, were of a nature which can be appre- 
hended in its vivid reality only by men who are 
thoroughly familiar with the harrowing details of 
war. JBehind and on either flank an ubiquitous 
and increasingly adventurous enemy — every mud- 
hole and every rise in the road choked with blazing 
wagons — the air filled with the deafening reports 
of ammunition exploding, and shells bursting when 
touched by the flames — dense columns of smoke 
ascending to heaven from the burning and explod- 
ing vehicles — exhausted men, worn-out mules and 
horses lying down side by side — gaunt famine glar- 
ing hopelessly from sunken, lack-lustre eyes — dead 
mules, dead horses, dead men everywhere — death 
many times welcomed as God's blessing in disguise 
— who can wonder if many hearts, tried in the fiery 
furnace of four years' unparalleled suft'ering and 
never hitherto found wanting, should have quailed 
in presence of starvation, fatigue, sleeplessness, 
misery, unintermitted for five or six days, and cul- 
minating in hopelessness." * 

General Lee, continuing his retreat, on the 7th 
left Farmville, halting his army four miles beyond. 
Orders had been given to destroy the bridges over 
the Appomattox, and a brigade of Gordon's was 

■^Francis Lawley's Narrative. 



304 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

left beliind to guard the crossing while the order 
was carried out. The Second Federal corps shortly 
coming up, after a sharp encounter succeeded in 
driving off the Confederates and saving the bridges 
almost entire. Following on in the rear of Lee's 
army they attacked the wagon-train, and had cap- 
tured a number of wagons, when Gordon, turning 
back, drove them off, taking two hundred prisoners. 

Pushing on in advance, this Federal corps, under 
General Humphreys, finally came upon General 
Lee's whole army, strongly intrenched. Attempt- 
ing to flank the Confederate position, deeming it 
too strong to be attacked in front, he found him- 
self compelled to send for reinforcements. Li the 
meanwhile, attacking Lee's left, he was speedily 
repulsed, losing six hundred men in killed and 
wounded. When reinforcements had arrived, it 
was too late to make another attack. 

Another instance of the spirit of these broken- 
down troops occurred on the same day, in which 
the cavalry under Fitz-Lee, attacked by six thou- 
sand of Sheridan's well-appointed force, achieved a 
signal success ; General Gregg, the officer in com- 
mand of the Federal cavalry, being taken prisoner. 

General Grant occupied Farmville on the morn- 
ing of the 7th, soon after General Lee's army 
moved out. While at Farmville, he addressed Gen- 
eral Lee the following note : 



1865.] GENERAL EGBERT E.LEE. 305 

" April 7, 1865. 
" General E. E. Lee, Commanding C. S. A. 

'' General : — The result of the last week must 
convince you of the hopelessness of further resist- 
ance on the part of the Army of IN'orthern Vir- 
ginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and 
regard it as my duty to shift from myself the re- 
sponsibility of any further effusion of blood, by 
asking of you the surrender of that portion of the 
Confederate Southern Army known as the Army 
of JL^orthern Virginia. 

" Very respectfully, 

" Your obedient servant, 
"U. S. Grant, 
" Lieutenant-General Commanding Armies 
of the United States." 

General Grant wrote this at Farmville, thinking 
General Lee's chances of escape entirely hopeless. 
Before the answer (written the same night) was re- 
ceived, General Lee had put a long night's march 
between his army and that of General Grant. 

General Lee immediately responded : 

"April 7, 1865. 
" General : — I have received your note of this 
day. Though not entirely of the opinion you ex- 
press as to the hopelessness of further resistance on 
the part of the Armj^ of ^N'orthern Virginia, I recip- 
rocate your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, 
and therefore, before considering your proposition, 

26* U ' 



306 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

ask the terms you will offer on condition of its sur- 
render. R. E. Lee, General/' 

" To Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant, Command- 
ing Armies of the United States." 

To this General Grant replied : 

" April 8, 1865. 

" General: — Your note of last evening, in reply 
to mine of same date, asking the condition on 
which I will accept the surrender of the Army of 
I^orthern Virginia, is just received. In reply, I 
would say that j^cace heing my great desire, there is 
but one condition I would insist upon, namely: 
That the men and officers surrendered shall be dis- 
qualified for taking up arms again against the Gov- 
ernment of the United States until properly ex- 
changed. I will meet you, or will designate officers 
to meet any officers you might name for the same 
purpose, at any point agreeable to you, for the pur- 
pose of arranging definitely the terms upon which 
the surrender of the Army of I^orthern Virginia 
will be received. 

''■ U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General." 

" General E. E. Lee." 

Meanwhile, the night-march of the Confederates 
having left the Federal forces very far behind, it 
was necessary to renew pursuit on the morning of 
the 8th. Lee's retreat was by the narrow neck of 
land between the Appomattox and the James, en- 
deavoring to reach Lynchburg; and it was the aim 
of Sheridan's cavalry to intercept him. 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 307 

Flying as he wrote, General Lee responded to 

General Grant: 

" April 8, 1865. 

" General : — I received at a late hour your note 
of to-day. In mine of yesterday, I did not intend 
to propose the surrender of the Army of I^orthern 
Virginia, but to ask the terms of your proposition. 
To be frank, I do not think the emergency has arisen to 
call for the surrender of this army ; but as the resto- 
ration of peace should be the sole object of all, I de- 
sire to know whether your proposals would lead to 
that end. I cannot, therefore, meet you with a 
view to surrender the Army of E^orthern Virginia, 
but as far as your proposal ixiay affect the Confed- 
erate States forces under my command, and tend to 
the restoration of peace, I should be pleased to meet 
you at ten a. m., to-morrow, on the old stage road 
to Richmond, between the picket lines of the two 
armies. R. E. Lee, GeneraL 

'' Lieutenant-General Grant." 

To this note General Grant replied the next 

" April 9, 1865. 
" General : — Your note of yesterday is received. 
I have no authority to treat on the subject of peace. 
The meeting proposed for ten a. m., to-day, would 
lead to no good. I will state, however, General, 
that I am equally anxious for peace with yourself, 
and the whole ISTorth entertains the same feeling. 
The terms upon which peace can be had are well 
understood. By the South laying down their arms, 



308 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

they will hasten that most desirable event, save 
thousands of human -lives, and hundreds of millions 
of property not yet destroyed. Seriously hoping 
that all our difficulties may be settled without the 
loss of another life, I subscribe myself, &c., 

" U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. 
'' General R. E. Lee." 

This reply was never received by General Lee. 

Sheridan's cavalry reached Appomattox Sta- 
tion, on the Lynchburg Railroad, five miles be- 
yond the Court-House, on the evening of the 8th. 
He planted himself directly in front of General Lee, 
and captured four trains loaded with supplies for 
the starving Confederates. 

The last council of war of the Army of IN'orthern 
Virginia was now held between Generals Lee, Long- 
street, Gordon, and Fitz-Lee, and it was submitted 
to these ofiScers by General Lee, to decide wdiat 
should be done. It was resolved to attempt to cut 
through Sheridan's lines, and at dawn this was at- 
tempted. Of the proud army of Virginia there only 
remained about eight thousand men of Gordon's and 
Longstreet's corps, and the gaunt figures of some 
thousands of unarmed men too weak to carry their 
muskets. With these Gordon commenced the at- 
tack with such wonderful impetuosity that the 
enemy found themselves forced back nearly a mile. 

At this moment Sheridan arrived from Appomat- 
tox Station, followed by a body of infantry eighty 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E.LEE. 309 

thousand strong — the army of the James; while 
in the rear of the Confederates, closely pursuing, 
came the army of the Potomac. 

General Lee had decided that the attempt must 
be made to cat their way through Sheridan's lines. 
If they had only cavalry before them, it might be 
effected ; if infantry, then there would be no course 
but surrender. 

After driving Sheridan's troopers, Gordon had 
found himself in front of the Federal infantry, and 
was himself forced back. When General Lee 
learned from Gordon that the enemy were driving 
him, he felt that an attempt at further resistance 
would involve the immolation of his brave men. 

Accordingly, just as Sheridan was about to charge- 
upon the feeble lines in front of him, a white flag 
was held aloft, and at the same time the following 
note was sent from General Lee to General Grant : 

"April 9, 1865. 
" General : — I received your note this morning 
on the picket line, whither I had come to meet you 
and ascertain definitely what terms were embraced 
in your proposition of yesterday with reference to 
the surrender of this army. 

" I now request an interview in accordance with 
the offer contained in your letter of yesterday for 
that purpose. 

" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
" R. E. Lee, General." 
'' To Lieutenant-General Grant, Commanding 
Armies of the United States." 



310 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

The interview was granted by General Grant, who 

replied : 

"April 9, 1865. 

" General R. E. Lee, commanding Confederate 
States Armies : — Your note of this date is but this 
moment, 11.59, a. m., received. 

" In consequence of my having passed from the 
Richmond and Lynchburg Road to the Farniville 
and Lynchburg Road, I am, at this writing, about 
four miles west of Walter's Church, and will push 
forward to the front for the purpose of meeting 

" ^N'otice sent to me on this road where you wish 
the interview to take'place, will meet me. 

" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
" U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General." 

At the house of Mr. Wilmer McLean, in the vil- 
lage of Appomattox Court-House, took place the 
meeting of the two commanders. General Lee was 
accompanied by his aid Colonel Marshall ; General 
Grant, by a few of his officers. 

General Grant behaved with great courtesy and 
delicacy. General Lee's manner, on this trying 
occasion, is thus described by a Federal officer. 

" General Lee looked very much jaded and worn, 
but nevertheless presented the same magnificent 
])Jiysique for which he has always been noted. He 
was neatly dressed in gray cloth, without embroid- 
ery or any insignia of rank, except three stars worn 
on the turned portion of his coat-collar. His cheeks 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 311 

were very much bronzed by exposure, but still shone 
ruddy beneath it all. He is growing quite bald, and 
wears one of the side-locks of his hair thrown across 
the upper portion of his forehead, which is as white 
and fair as a woman's. He stands fully six feet one 
in height, and weighs something over two hundred 
pounds, without being burdened with a pound of 
superfluous flesh. During the whole interview he 
was retired and dignified to a degree bordering on 
taciturnity, but was free from all exhibition of tem- 
per or mortification. His demeanor was that of a 
thoroughly possessed gentleman who had a very 
disagreeable duty to perform, but was determined 
to get through it as well and as soon as possible." 

Seated at a common deal table, the following pa- 
pers were exchanged : 

"Appomattox Court-House, Virginia, 
"April 9, 1865. 

" General : — In accordance with my letter to 
you of the 8th instant, I propose to receive the 
surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on the 
following terms, to wit : — Rolls of all the ofiicers 
and men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be 
given to an officer to be designated by me, the 
other to be retained by such officer or officers as 
you may designate. The officers to give their in- 
dividual paroles not to take up arms against the 
United States until properly exchanged; and each 
company or regimental commander to sign a like 
parole for the men of their commands. The arms, 
artillery, and public property to be parked and 



312 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

stacked, and turned over to the officers appointed 
by me to receive them. This will not embrace the 
side-arms of the officers, nor their private horses or 
baggage. This done, each officer and man will be 
allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed 
by United States authority so long as they observe 
their paroles and the laws in force where they may 
reside. 

'' U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. 
" General E. E. Lee." 

"Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, 
" April 9, 1865. 

" General : — I have received your letter of this 
date containing the terms of the surrender of the 
Army of Northern Virginia as proposed by you. As 
tliey are substantially the same as those expressed 
in your letter of the 8th instant, they are accepted. 
I will proceed to designate the proper officers to 
carry the stipulations Into effect. 

"E. E. Lee, General. 

"Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant." 

Commissioners were appointed on both sides to 
carry out the details of the surrender. Thus passed 
out of existence the Army of Northern Virginia. 
The able and candid historian of the " Army of the 
Potomac," in speaking of the achievements of the 
latter, adds these words, which may be accepted as 
a not unworthy epitaph from a generous enemy : 

" ]^or can there fail to arise the image of that 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 313 

other army that was the adversary of the Army of 
the Potomac, and which — who can ever forget that 
once looked upon it? — that array of '^ tattered 
uniforms and bright muskets ; " that body of in- 
comparable infantry, the Army of I^orthern Vir- 
ginia, which for years carried the revolt on its 
bayonets, opposing a constant front to the mighty 
concentration of power brought against it, which, 
receiving terrible blows, did not fail to give the 
like, and which, vital in all its parts, died only with 
its annihilation." 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

The Last Hours of the Army of Northern Virginia — The Night 
of Peace — General Lee's Farewell to his Army — His Recep- 
tion in Richmond — His Retired Life — Testimonials of Affec- 
tion and Esteem — His Noble Bearing in Adversity. 

I^TTHEN" what had taken place became known to 
^ * the army, whole lines broke ranks, and rush- 
ing up to their beloved commander, sobbed out 
words of comfort and affection, striving, with "a 
refinement of unselfishness and tenderness which 
he alone could fully appreciate, to lighten his bur- 
den, and mitigate his pain, and struggling to take 
him once more by the hand." In a voice broken by 
emotion. General Lee said : " Men, we have fought 
through the war together. I have done the best I 
could for you. My heart is too full to say more." 
27 



314 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

One of his officers * who was with him to the 
end, thus speaks of this scene: 

" I can never forget the deferential homage paid 
this great citizen by even the Federal soldiers, as 
with uncovered heads they contemplated in mute 
admiration this now captive hero as he rode through 
their ranks. Impressed forever, daguerreotyped on 
my heart, is that last parting-scene with that hand- 
ful of heroes still crowding around him. Few in- 
deed were the words spoken ; but the quivering 
lip, and the tearful eye, told of the love they bore 
him, in symphonies more eloquent than any lan- 
guage." 

He is reported to have said to an officer standing 
by when the surrender was resolved upon : " How 
easily I could get rid of all this and be at rest. I 
have only to ride along the lines and all will be 
over." He then added, with a sigh, " But it is our 
duty to live. What will become of the women and 
children of the South, if we are not here to protect 
them ? " 

The victors were kind and mag-nanimous. j^o 
bands played; no cheers were heard save from 
some far off division who did not know exactly 
what was passing ; and these were apologized for by 
one of the officers. 

" As the armies were enemies no longer, there 

* General Gordon. 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 315 

was no need of martial array that night, nor fear 
of surprise, nor call to arms; but hostile devise- 
ment gave place to mutual helpfulness, and the 
victors shared their rations with the famished van- 
quished. In that supreme moment, these men 
knew and respected each other. If the one army 
drank the joy of victory, and the other the bitter 
draught of defeat, it was a joy moderated by the 
recollection of the cost at which it had been pur- 
chased, and a defeat mollified by the consciousness 
of many triumphs. 

''If at length the Army of ISTorthern Virginia 
fell before the massive power of the ^N'orth, yet 
what vitality had it shown ! How terrible had been 
the struggle! IIow many hundreds of brave men 
had fallen before that result could be achieved ! ^' * 

On the day after the capitulation. General Lee 
issued the following tare well address to his old 
soldiers : 

" Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, 
" April 10, 1865. 

" General Order, ^o. 9. 

" Veterans of the Army of Northern Virginia : 
After four years of arduous service, marked by 
unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the army of 
Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to 
overwhelmins: numbers and resources. 

" I need not tell the survivors of so many hard- 
fought battles, who have remained steadfast to the 

*SwiNTON : Armri of the Potomac. 



316 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

last, that I have consented to this result from no 
distrust of them ; but, feeling that valor and devo- 
tion could accomplish nothing' that could compen- 
sate for the loss that would have attended the con- 
tinuation of the contest, I have determined to avoid 
the useless sacrifice of those whose past services 
have endeared them to their countrymen. 

" By the terms of agreement, officers and men 
can return to their homes and remain there until 
exchanged. 

" You will take with you the satisfaction that pro- 
ceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully per- 
formed ; and I earnestly pra}'- that a merciful God 
will extend to you His blessing and protection. 

'^ With an unceasing admiration of your con- 
stancy and devotion to your country, and a grateful 
remembrance of your kindness and generous con- 
sideration of myself, I bid you, soldiers, an affec- 
tionate farewell. R. E. Lee, General." 

On the 12th April, the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia made their last sad march to Appomattox 
Court-House, where they laid down their arms and 
the colors under which they had fought so well. 

Less than eight thousand men with arms surren- 
dered, but the capitulation included about eighteen 
thousand unarmed stragglers. Major-General Gib- 
bon received the surrender, General Grant, with 
great delicacy, remaining at his quarters. 

General Lee had already departed for Richmond, 
and escorted by a detachment of Federal cavalry and 



1865.] 



GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 



317 



accompanied by the officers of his staff, he reached 
there on the evening of the 12th. All along his 
route, the people were looking for him, and from 
out their little stores the best was prepared for his 
refreshment. 

Coming in sight of Kichmond, he left his escort, 




General Lee ExTERiNa Richmond after the Surrender. 

and attended by a few officers, and followed by the 
little old ambulance which had accompanied him 
27* 



318 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

in all his campaigns, he entered the desolate and 
ruined city. In a moment he was recognized. 
Men, women, and children shouted and waved him 
a welcome. Even the United States soldiers 
crowded around his door and raised their hats to 
salute him. It was with difficulty he could dis- 
mount. Men kissed his feet, and arms were 
thrown ahout the neck of the faithful ^' Traveller " 
who had borne him unharmed through so many 
dangers. 

Struggling with his emotion. General Lee at 
length disengaged himself, and lifting his hat again 
and again to the crowd, took shelter within his own 
house. 

Here he remained closely secluded, going out 
only after night, so as to avoid those demonstra- 
tions from the people so painful to his feelings, and 
which he knew would provoke censure from those 
inimical to him. 

During this time he received the following letter 
from one of his old soldiers : 

"• Dear General : — We have been fighting hard 
for four years, and now the Yankees have got us in 
Libby Prison. They are treating us awful bad. 
The boys want you to get us out, if you can. But 
if you can't, just ride by the Libby, and let us see 
you and give you a good cheer. "We will all feel 
better after it." 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 319 

All who were in Richmond at this time must re- 
member how his doors were besieged with visitors 
of every class, all eager to do him honor, — how the 
^Northern tourists, who came " on to Richmond '' 
by the " round trip," to see the rebellious city 
which had cost so dear, lingered by his door in 
hopes to catch sight of the fallen hero ; many, actu- 
ated by curiosity or interest, even penetrating into 
the privacy of his house. He received most kindly 
deputations of Federal officers who called to evince 
their appreciation of his character and their good 
feelings towards him, and every steamer which de- 
livered its burden of returned prisoners sent a rag- 
ged and miserable deputation to look again upon 
the features of their beloved commander, before re- 
turning to their ruined homes. Many a touching 
scene occurred with these, showing the simplicity 
and devotion of these poor fellows. 

General Lee often spoke of the pain caused him 
by these interviews, and how impossible it was to 
decline them. 

One day, being called down to see some gentle- 
men, he found two of these " ragged rebs " in the 
passage, who advanced to him with the military 
salute, and immediately commenced to tell that 
they were sent as ambassadors by some fellows 
*' round the corner," but who were too badly dressed 
to present themselves. They came on the part of 
one hundred of the "boys" just returned from the 



320 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

prison of Point Lookout, to propose to General 
Lee to go with them to the mountains of Botetourt 
County, where they had five thousand acres among 
them. They offered him a pLantation, which they 
would stock and work for him; and these hun- 
dred men had banded together to protect him from 
arrest. " Come with us," they urged; '' not a whole 
army can take you from us there. We want to 
take care of you. We have heard that our Presi- 
dent is captured, and they threaten you. Come to 
our mountains, where we will die in your defence." 
" But," said the General, " you would not have 
your General run away and hide. He must stay 
and meet his fate." And then he explained how 
the terms of the surrender ensured his safety, 
and how he relied on General Grant's word. It 
was with difficulty he could dissuade them from 
their generous purpose. At length, with his usual 
thoughtfulness, he sent his daughter to bring down 
to each a suit of his own clothing, which he begged 
they would accept in remembrance of him who had 
nothing else to offer, and as an assurance of his 
gratitude for their interest in his behalf. Seizing 
the clothing, they pressed it to their lips, and rush- 
ing to exhibit such a prize to their comrades, the 
General was enabled to escape from their importu- 
nities. 

Another day General Lee was told a Federal 
soldier, an Irishman, was at the door with a basket, 



1865] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 321 

who wished to speak to him. The General sent 
one of his nephews to tell the visitor he was busy, 
and begged he would excuse him. The messenger 
returned, saying the man would not go away, that 
he had brought General Lee a present of something 
to eat, and that he would give it only into his own 
hands. The General then sent word that he was in 
no want, and begged that what was brought to him 
might be taken to the Sanitary Commission, for the 
sick soldiers. This the man positively refused to do, 
and was so persistent in his determination to see 
General Lee, that at last he went down, when, the 
generous Irishman dropping his basket, which con- 
tained a ham, cheese, canned fruits, vegetables, and 
other luxuries, threw his arms about the astonished 
General, exclaiming, '' I don't think the less of you 
for having surrendered. God bless you for a true 
man and a good soldier," and other expressions of 
affectionate admiration. The General disengaged 
himself, and with many thanks begged his friend 
to bestow the contents of his basket upon his own 
sick comrades; in vain, so the gifts were retained 
until the next day, when they were transferred to 
the " Sanitary." 

There occurred at this time another visit from 
one of these warm-hearted Irishmen. He was met 
at the door by a member of General Lee's family, 
who asked that the General might be excused, as 
he was very busy writing. '^ I know he is busy," 

V 



322 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

said the visitor: " I will detain liim but one moment. 
I only want to take him by the hand." At this in- 
stant, the General, passing through the entry, heard 
these Avords, and came forward, offering his hand, 
which was grasped with intense emotion. " I have 
come all the way from Baltimore to take your hand. 
I have three sons born during the war, Beauregard, 
Fitz-Lee, and Robert Lee. My wife would never 
forgive me if I should go home without seeing you. 
God bless you!" And with this outburst he de- 
parted. 

At this time, while smarting under the mortifica- 
tion of defeat, no one ever knew him to utter a 
word of bitterness or ill-feeling towards the iSTorth- 
ern people. Hearing such sentiments uttered by 
the young people who crowded about him, he con- 
stantly rebuked them, setting an example of moder- 
ation and charity which it was impossible for them 
not to wish to imitate.* He did everything to 

* The following anecdote will illustrate this noble trait of Gen- 
eral Lee's character : The day after the great battle of Spottsyl- 
vania Court-House, General Lee was standing near his lines, con- 
versing with two of his officers, one of whom was knowa to be not 
only a hard fighter and a hard swearer, but a cordial hater of the 
Yankees. After a silence of some moments, the latter officer, look- 
ing at the enemy with a dark scowl on his face, exclaimed most 
emphatically, "I wish they were all dead." General Lee, with 
the grace and manner peculiar to himself, replied, " How can you 
say so, General. Now I wish they were all at home, attending to 
their own business, leaving us to do the same." Ke then moved 
off, when the first speaker waiting until he was out of earshot, 
turned to his companion, and in the most earnest tones said, " I 
would not say so before General Lee, but I wish they were all 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 323 

reconcile liis people to their fate, by bearing his 
own so cheerfully. When he heard them threaten to 
leave the country and seek homes in foreign lands, 
he would remind them that if they really loved the 
South, it was their duty to remain and strive to bind 
up her bleeding wounds. And to this end did he 
labor, and to these young men did he devote him- 
self from this time to his death, refusing places of 
emolument in several of the great cities of the 
iTorth and South, declining estates offered him in 
England and Ireland, where he had many admir- 
ers,* nobly replying, '' I am deeply grateful, but I 

dead and in hellT' When this "amendment" to the wish was 
afterwards repeated to General Lee, in spite of his goodness, he 
could not refrain from laughing heartily at the speech, which 
was so characteristic of one of his favorite officers. 

*Mr. George Long, of England, in a note to the Second Edition 
of his translation of the ''Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus 
Aurelius Antoninus," after disclaiming a dedication inserted 
without his knowledge in the American reprint, says: "I have 
never dedicated a book to any man, and if I dedicated this, I 
should choose the man whose name seemed to me most worthy to 
be joined to that of the Roman soldier and philosopher. I might 
dedicate the book to the successful General who is now President 
of the United States, with the hope that his integrity and justice 
will restore peace and happiness, so far as he can, to those un- 
happy States which have sutfered so much from war and the unre- 
lenting hostility of wicked men. But, as the Roman poet said : 

'' ' Victrix causa Deis placuit, sed victa Catoni ; ' 
and if I dedicated this little book to any man, I would dedicate it 
to him who led the Confederate armies against the powerful in- 
vader, and retired from an unequal contest defeated, but not dis- 
honored; to the noble Virginian soldier, whose talents and virtues 
place him by the side of the best and wisest man who sat on the 
throne of the Imperial Caesars." 



324 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

cannot consent to desert my native State in the hour 
of her adversity. I must abide her fortunes and 
share her fate." 

He was heard to say that he had yet a mission to 
fulfil to the young men of his country; and beauti- 
ful and appropriate v^as it that those v^ho had 
fought under his banner should now come to learn 
science and philosophy at his feet. 



CHAPTER XXXIY. 

He is Offered the Presidency of Washington College — Letter of 
Acceptance — Installation — Condition of the College — His 
Earnest Devotion to his New Duties — Influence of his Charac- 
ter and Example — His Valuable Services to the College, 

DURIN'G the summer of this year, while General 
Lee was with a friend in the country, he re- 
ceived a visit from Judge John W. Brockenborough, 
Rector of Washington College, Lexington, Virginia, 
inviting him, on the part of the Trustees, to accept 
the presidency of that institution. To this invita- 
tion General Lee made the following reply : 

" Powhatan County, August 24, 1865. 
" Gentlemen : — I have delayed for some days 
replying to your letter of the 5th instant informing 
me of my election, by the board of Trustees, to the 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 325 

Presidency of Waslnngton College, from a desire 
to give the subject due consideration. Fully im- 
pressed with the responsibilities of the ofhce, I 
have feared that I should be unable to discharge 
its duties to the satisfaction of the Trustees, or to 
the benefit of the country. The proper education 
of youth requires not only great ability, but, I fear, 
more strength than I now possess ; for I do not feel 
able to undergo the labor of conducting classes in 
regular courses of instruction. I could not, there- 
fore, undertake more than the general administra- 
tion and supervision of the institution. 

" There is another subject which has caused me 
serious reflection, and is, I think, worthy of the con- 
sideration of the Board. Being excluded from the 
terms of amnesty in the proclamation of the United 
States of the 29tli of Ma}^ last, and an object of cen- 
sure to a portion of the country, I have thought it 
probable that my occupation of the position of 
president might draw upon the college a feeling of 
hostility, and I should therefore cause injury to an 
institution which it would be my highest object to 
advance. 

" I think it the duty of every citizen, in the pres- 
ent condition of the country, to do all in his power 
to aid in the restoration of peace and harmony, and 
in no way to oppose the policy of the State or gen- 
eral Government directed to that object. It is par- 
ticularly incumbent on those charged with the in- 
struction of the young to set them an example of 
submission to authority, and I could not consent to 
be the cause of animadversion upon the college. 

28 



326 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

Should you, however, take a clilFerent view, and 
think that my services, in the position tendered me 
by the Board, will be advantageous to the college 
and the country, I will yield to your judgment and 
accept it; otherwise I must most respectfully de- 
cline the offer. 

" Begging you to express to the Trustees of the 
college my heartfelt gratitude for the honor con- 
ferred upon me, and requesting you to accept my 
cordial thanks for the kind manner in which you 
have communicated its decision, 

" I am, gentlemen, your most obedient servant, 

''R.E.Lee. 

" Messrs. John W. Brockenbohough, Hector. 
Ch. M. D. Reid; Alfred Leyburn; Horatio 
Thomson, D. D.; Bolivar Christian; T. J. 
KiLPATRiCK, Committee^' 

His delicate scruples being overcome. General 
Lee accepted the position pressed upon him, and on 
the 2d of October was installed in the office. The 
ceremonies on this occasion are thus described by 
an eye-witness. 

" General EobertE. Lee was to-day installed Presi- 
dent of Washington College. There was no pomp or 
parade. The exercises of installation were the sim- 
plest possible — an exact compliance with the re- 
quired formula of taking the oath by the new presi- 
dent, and nothing more. This was in accordance 
with the special request of General Lee. It was 
proposed to have the installation take place in the 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 327 

college chapel, to send invitations far and wide, to 
have a band of music to play enlivening airs, to 
have young girls robed in white and bearing chap- 
lets of) flowers, to sing songs of welcome, to have 
congratulatory speeches, to make it a holiday. That 
this proposed programme was not carried out was 
a source of severe disappointment to many. But 
General Lee had expressed his wishes contrary to 
the choice and determination of the college Trustees 
and the multitude, and his wishes were complied 
with. 

" The installation took place at 9 a. m., in a reci- 
tation room of the college. In this room were 
seated the Faculty and the students, the ministers 
of the town churches, a magistrate, and the county 
clerk ; the last officials being necessary to the cere- 
monial. General Lee was ushered into the room 
by the Board of Trustees. Upon his entrance and 
introduction all in the room rose, bowed, and then 
resumed their seats. Prayer by the Rev. Dr. "White, 
pastor of the Presbyterian Church, directly followed. 
To me it was a noticeable fact, and perhaps worthy 
of record, that he prayed for the President of the 
United States. 

" Altogether, it was a most fitting and impressive 
prayer. 

" The prayer ended. Judge Brockenborough, 
chairman of the Board of Trustees, stated the object 
of their coming together, to install General Lee as 
President of Washington College. He felt the 
serious dignity of the occasion, but it was a serious- 
ness and dignity that should be mingled with heart- 



328 A POPULAK LIFE OF [1865. 

felt joy and gladness. Passing a brief eulogy upon 
General Lee, he congratulated the Board and Col- 
lege, and its present and future students, on having 
obtained one so loved, great, and worthy to preside 
over the college. General Lee remained standing, 
his arms quietly folded, and calmly and- steadfastly 
looking into the eyes of the speaker. Justice "Wil- 
liam Wliite, at the instance of Judge Brockenbor- 
ous^h, now administered the oath of office to Gen- 
eral Lee. 

" For the benefit of those curious to knov/ the 
nature of this new oath, to which General Lee has 
just subscribed, I will giv^e it entire. It is as follows : 

'" I do sw^ear that I will, to the best of my skill 
and judgment, faithfully and truly discharge the 
duties required of me by an Act entitled " An Act 
for the incorporating the Rector and Trustees of 
Liberty Hall Academy," without favor, affection, 
or partiality: so help me God.' 

" To this oath General Lee at once affixed his 
signature, with the accompanying usual jurat of the 
swearing magistrate appended. The document, in 
the form stated, was handed to the county clerk for 
safe and perpetual custodianship, and at the same 
time the keys of the college were given up by the 
Rector into the keeping of the new President. 

" A congratulatory shaking of hands followed, 
and wound up the day's brief but pleasing, impres- 
sive, and- memorable ceremonial. President Lee 
and those of the Trustees present, with the Faculty, 
now passed into the room set apart for the use of 
the President — a good-sized room, newly and very 
tastefully furnished. 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 329 

'^ General Lee was dressed in a plain but elegant 
suit of gray. His appearance indicated tlie enjoy- 
ment of good health — better, I should say, than 
when he surrendered his army at Appomattox 
Court-IIouse, the first and only occasion before the 
present, of my having seen him." 

There was nothing to tempt ambition in this 
position, still less did it promise to secure to Gen- 
eral Lee that ease and repose which his wearied 
mind and body must have coveted. 

The war had left the college a wreck; — its library 
robbed, the buildings torn and defaced; the Faculty, 
few in number, were disorganized and dispirited, 
and its endovv^ment was so small that it was doubt- 
ful if the institution could be put in condition to 
receive students. But these difficulties, which would 
have discouraged another, only stimulated General 
Lee's ardor to enter a field which promised a life 
of labor and usefulness. 

'' The same high principle of action that had 
characterized his conduct in the gravest crisis of 
public aftairs marked his decision here ; and here, 
as ever, duty alone determined his choice." * 

He had resolved to continue to labor for his 
country, and here was a sphere opened to him, un- 
congenial, it is true, and opposed to. the active 

* " General Lee ds a College President." — Vnivcrnty Monthly, 
March, 1871. 
28* 



330 A POPULAB LIFE OF [1865. 

habits of Ills former life, but one in which he found 
opportunity for great usefuhiess, and in which he 
developed an ability and displayed a power only 
second to that which he had shown in the career 
for which nature and education had designed him. 

The influence of his great name brought contri- 
butions to the college even from foreign lands, and 
students flocked to him from all parts of the South, 
and some even from the Korth, eager to profit by 
his teaching and his example. 

Although many offers were made to him during 
his residence at Lexington, promising him ease and 
emolument, he steadily refused to abandon the task 
he had assumed.* 

* Soon after he took charge of Washington College, he was vis- 
ited by the agent of an insurance company, who offered him the 
presidency at a salary of ten thousand dollars. He told the agent 
that he could not give up his position in the college, and could 
not properly attend to both. "But, General," said the agent, 
"we do not want you to discharge any duties. We simply wish 
the use of your name; that will abundantly compensate us." 

"Excuse me, sir," was the prompt and decided rejoinder. "I 
cannot consent to receive pay for services I do not render." 

He received many offers of this sort, and just a short time be- 
fore his death, a large manufacturing company in New York 
offered him a salary of fifty thousand dollars a year if he would 
become their president. But to all such offers he had the same 
reply — "his duty in the college fully occupied his time, and he 
would not receive pay where he did not render service." 

He refused to receive from the college anything like so large a 
salary as they desired to pay him ; and when the Trustees deeded 
to Mrs. Lee a' house and annuity of three thousand dollars, the 
General respectfully declined, on Mrs. Lee's behalf, to accept it. 

He declined all gratuities ; and though a loving people, for 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 331 

When asked by a friend what could induce him 
to "undertake that broken-down institution," — "I 
have a mission to fulfil," he replied, and nobly did 
he perform it. The students were taught to regard 
him as their friend, and his relation to them partook 
of the tender watchfulness of a parent. I^ot only 
was their intellectual training the object of his care- 
ful solicitude, but he desired above all things their 
spiritual welfare. 

As a disciplinarian, he was careful that no fiilse- 
hood or dishonorable conduct should be overlooked. 
But, at the same time, he was tolerant of mere 
thoughtlessness and the faults of high-spirited youth. 
Though exacting obedience to lawful authority, he 
was cautious in the administration of punishment, 
and so tender and mild in his reproofs, that nothing 
was more dreaded by the students than a rebuke 
from General Lee. It has been said by one of the 
professors * that the whole college felt his influence, 
and that his character was quietly yet irresistibly 
impressed upon it, not only in the general working 
of all its departments, but in all the details of each. 

"In the latter years of his administration, hardly 
a single case of serious discipline occurred. We 

whom he had toiled so heroically, would most joyously have set- 
tled on him a handsome property, he preferred to earn his daily 
bread by his personal exertion, and to set to his people an ex- 
ample of honest industry. — Christian Observer. 

* Professor Joynes. — University Monthly, March, 1871. 



332 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

doubt, indeed, wlietlier at any otlier college in the 
world so many young men could have been found 
as free from misconduct, or marked by as high a 
tone of feeling and opinion, as were the students of 
Washington College during these latter years of 
General Lee's life.'' 

He rarely came before the students in the full 
dignity of his official capacity. The addresses 
made on these occasions were called by the bo3^s 
his " General Orders," and were always respected 
and obeyed. One of these is given in the article 
from which we have quoted.* 



" Washington College, Nov. 26, 1866. 

" The Faculty desire to call the attention of the 
students to the disturbances which occurred in the 
streets of Lexington on the nights of Friday and 
Saturday last. They believe that none can con- 
template them with pleasure, or can find any reason- 
able grounds for their justification. These acts are 
said to have been committed by students of the 
College, with the apparent object of disturbing the 
peace and quiet of a town whose inhabitants have 
opened their doors for their reception and accom- 
modation, and who are always ready to administer 
to their comfort and pleasure. 

"It requires but little consideration to see the 
error of such conduct, which could only have pro- 

* " General Lee as President of a College." — University Monthly, 
March, 1871. 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 333 

ceedecl from thoughtlessness and a want of reflec- 
tion. The Faculty therefore appeal to the honor 
and self-respect of the students to prevent any sim- 
ilar occurrence, trusting that their sense of what is 
due to themselves, their parents, and the institution 
to which they belong, will be more effectual in 
teaching them what is right and manly, than any- 
thing they can say. 

'' There is one consideration connected with these 
disorderly proceedings, which the Faculty wish to 
bring to your particular notice : the example of 
your conduct, and the advantage taken of it by 
others to commit outrages for which you have to 
bear the blame. They tlierefore exhort you to 
adopt the only course capable of shielding you 
from such charges — the effectual prevention of all 
such occurrences in future. 

''R. E. Lee, 
*' President Washington College." 

His administration of the duties of his office was 
most thorough and laborious. Every part of the 
institution fell under his searching eye, and he 
never shrank from the dryest business affairs in its 
connection. It was said of him that he gave him- 
self to the duties of President of a college as 
heartily and entirely as if he had never known any 
other ambition. To an old comrade in arms he 
wrote : " I am charmed with the duties of civil life." 
In them he found solace and relief from the mem- 
ories of the painful past. 



334 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1865. 

The marked ability displayed by General Lee in 
this office made it readily admitted by those who 
saw the results of his admirable plans for the im- 
provement of the college, that, had he lived long 
enough to complete them, he would have attained 
an eminence in his new profession as great as in 
his military career As it was, " he found the col- 
lege," says the author above quoted, " practically 
bankrupt, disorganized, deserted; he left it rich, 
strong, and crowded with students. He called into 
existence the schools of Applied Mathematics, and 
Engineering and of Law, as part of the collegiate 
organization, and later he submitted to the Trustees 
a plan for the complete development of the scien- 
tific and professional departments of the college, 
which will ever remain as an example of his en- 
larged wisdom, and which has anticipated by many 
years, we fear, the practical attainments of any 
school in the country. Had this been the profes- 
sion of his life. General Lee would not have been 
less famous, relatively, among college presidents 
than he is now among soldiers," — an exemplifica- 
tion of Dr. Johnson's definition of genius : a mind 
of large general powers accidentally determined to 
some particular direction. 

'' This life at "Washington College, so devoted, so 
earnest, so laborious, so full of far-reaching plans 
and of wise and successful effort, was begun under 
the weight of a disappointment which might have 



1865.] GENERAL ROBERT E.LEE. 335 

broken any ordinary strength, and was maintained, 
in the midst of public and private misfortune, with 
a serene patience and a mingled firmness and sweet- 
ness of temper, that give additional brilliancy even 
to the glory of his former fame. It was his high 
privilege to meet alike the temptations and perils 
of the highest stations before the eyes of the world, 
and the cares and labors of the most responsible 
duties of private life under the most trying circum- 
stances, and to exhibit in all alike the qualities of a 
great and consistent character, founded in the no- 
blest endowments, and sustained by the loftiest 
principles of virtue and religion. It is a privilege, 
henceforth, for the teachers of our country, that 
their profession, in its humble yet arduous labors, 
its great and its petty cares, has been illustrated by' 
the devotion of such a man. It is an honor for all 
our colleges that one of them is henceforth identi- 
fied with the memory of his name and his work. 
It is a boon for us all : an honor to the country 
which in its whole length and breadth will soon be 
proud to claim his fame; an honor to human na- 
ture itself, that this great character, so often and so 
severely tried, has thus approved itself consistent, 
serene and grand, alike in peace and in war, in the 
humblest as well as the highest offices. Among 
the monuments which shall perpetuate his fame, 
not the least honorable will be that which shall 
commemorate his life at "Washington College." * 

* University 3Ionthly, March, 1871. 



336 A POPULAR LIFE OF fl866. 



CHAPTER XXXY. 

Summoned before the Reconstruction Committee — His Testimony 
— Letters to a Friend — Incidents illustrating bis Ciiaracter — 
His Last Illness — Death — Funeral Kites. 

TIN" March, 1866, General Lee was summoned to 
-■- Washington by the Congressional Committee 
on Eeconstruction, with which smiimons he prompt- 
ly complied ; and it is difficult to say whether we 
are most amazed at the questions which were there 
submitted to him, or the temper and forbearance 
with which he replied to them. Besides being 
asked the thoughts and opinions of the Southern 
people on every point social and political, he was 
required to give his views of the position, capacity, 
and future prospects of the colored race. Among 
the one hundred questions asked, were the fol- 
lowing : 

Q. By Mr. Howard. ^' Do they (the colored 
men) show a capacity to obtain knowledge of math- 
ematics and the exact sciences?" A. "I have no 
knowledge on that subject. I am merely acquaint- 
ed with those who have learned the common rudi- 
ments of education." 

Q. "I wish to inquire whether you had any 
knowledge of the cruelties practised toward the 
Union prisoners at Libby Prison and on Belle 
Isle ? " J.. " I never knew that any cruelty was 



1866] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 337 

practised, and I have no reason to believe that it 
w^as practised. I can believe, and have reason to 
believe, that privations may have been experienced 
by the prisoners, because I know that provisions 
and shelter could not be provided for them." 

Q, "■ Were you not aware that the prisoners were 
dying from cold and starvation ? " J.. " I was not." 

Q. " Did these scenes come to your knowledge 
at all ? " A. " N'ever. I^o report was ever made 
to me about them. There was no call for any to be 
made to me. I did hear — it was mere hearsay — 
that statements had been made to the War Depart- 
ment, and that everything had been done to relieve 
them that could be done, even finally so far as to 
offer to send them to some other points, — Charleston 
was one point named, — if they would be received by 
the United States authorities and taken to their 
homes ; but whether this is true or not, I do not 
know." .... 

Q. " And of course you know nothing of the 
scenes of cruelty about which complaints have 
been made at those places (Andersonville and Sal- 
isbury) ? " A. " ]N'othing in the world, as I said 
before. I suppose they suffered from want of abil- 
ity on the part of the Confederate States to supply 
their wants. At the very beginning of the war, I 
knew that there was suffering of prisoners on both 
sides, but, as far as I could, I did everything in my 
power to relieve them, and to establish the cartel 
which was established." 

Q. ''It has been frequently asserted that the 
Confederate soldiers feel more kindly towards the 
29 w 



338 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1866. 

government of tbe United States than any other 
people of the South. AVhat are your observations 
on that point ? " J.. " From the Confederate sol- 
diers I have heard no expression of any other opin- 
ion. They looked upon the war as a necessary evil, 
and went through it. I have seen them relieve the 
w^ants of Federal soldiers on the field. The orders 
always were that the whole field should be treated 
alike. Parties were sent out to take the Federal 
wounded as well as the Confederate, and the sur- 
geons were told to treat the one as they did the 
other. These orders given by me were respected 
on every field." 

Q. " Do you think that the good feeling on their 
part toward the rest of the people has continued 
since the close of the war ? " A. " I know nothing 
to the contrary. I made several efforts to exchange 
the prisoners after the cartel was suspended. I do 
not know to this day which side took the initiative. 
I know that there were constant complaints on both 
sides. I merely know it from public rumors. I 
ofi:ered to General Grant around Richmond that 
we should ourselves exchange all the prisoners in 
our hands. There was a communication from the 
Christian Commission, I think, which reached me 
at Petersburg, and made an application to me for a 
passport to visit all the prisoners South. My letter 
to them I suppose they have. I told them I had 
not that authority; that it could only be obtained 
from the War Department at Richmond, but that 
neither they nor I could relieve the suft'ering of the 
prisoners; that the only thing to be done for them 



1866.] 



GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 



339 



was to exchange them ; and to show that I would 
do whatever w^as in my power, I offered them to 
send to City Point all the prisoners in Virginia and 
North Carolina over which my command extended, 
provided they returned an equal number of mine 
man for man. I reported this to the War Depart- 
ment, and received for answer that they would 
place at my command all the prisoners at the South 
if the proposition was accepted. I heard nothing 
more on the subject." 

He was also called as a witness in the proposed 




General Lee and Traveller. 



340 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1867. 

trial of Mr. Davis ; and these were tlie only occa- 
sions on which he appeared before the public after 
the surrender. 

The three following years he continued to devote 
himself to his college duties, with occasional ab- 
sences in pursuit of that health which now began 
perceptibly to fail him. On one of these occasions, 
at the Green Brier Wlaite Sulphur, occurred a 
scene which showed the devotion mixed with awe 
with which he was regarded by his old soldiers. 
About twenty of these came in from the mountains 
to visit him, many of them very roughly dressed, 
and some without coats. They ranged themselves 
in the drawing-room to meet him. The General 
descended, and shaking hands, greeted them alter- 
nately in his genial way. [NTot one spoke, but all 
regarded him with devouring eyes in which the 
tears glistened. 

In I^orfolk, where he went to visit his old friend 
and physician. Dr. Selden, a still more touching re- 
ception awaited him. He had written to beg that 
in consideration of his being so unwell, he might be 
suffered to come and go unnoticed, and be excused 
from visits. Great care was taken that this request 
should be known and complied with. Finding no 
" committee " at the station. General Lee walked 
off greatly relieved. But what was his dismay 
when at every turn a hat was doffed to him. Every 
man who met him uncovered. When he left church, 



1869.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 341 

the congregation formed on each side the steps, and 
as he descended, every hat was lifted. This was 
still more oppressive to the poor General's feelings, 
and he hurried away to escape the exhibition of 
such delicate devotion. 

The following letters were addressed to Captain 
May, of Illinois, who kindly interested himself in 
endeavoring to recover for Mrs. Lee the Washing- 
ton relics bequeathed her by her father, which had 
been taken from Arlington. 

"Lexington, February 12, 1869. 
^' . . . Mrs. Lee has determined to act upon your 
suggestion, and apply to President Johnson for 
such of the relics from Arlington as are in the 
Patent Office. From what I have learned, a great 
many things formerly belonging to General Wash- 
ington, bequeathed to her by her father, in the 
shape of books, furniture, camp equipage, &c., were 
carried away by individuals, and are now scattered 
over the land. I hope the possessors appreciate 
them, and may imitate the example of their origi- 
nal owner, whose conduct must at times be brought 
to their recollection by these silent monitors. In 
this way they will accomplish good to the country." 

After President Johnson had given his consent to 
the removal of these articles. Congress appointed an 
investigating coniniittee to consider the propriety 
of allowing it, and decided in the negative. 
29* 



342 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1869. 

" Lexington, March 12, 1869. 
" My dear Captain. 

" I am sorry to learn from your letters the trouble 
you have incurred by your kind endeavors to have 
restored to Mrs. Lee certain articles taken from 
Arlington, and I particularly regret the inconven- 
ience occasioned to yourself and Mr. Browning in 
having been summoned before the Investigating 
Committee of Congress. I had not supposed that 
the subject could have been considered of such im- 
portance, and had I conceived the view taken of it 
by Congress, I should have dissuaded Mrs. Lee from 
making the application. But I thought that there 
would not only have been no objection to restoring 
to her family relics bequeathed her by her father, 
now that the occasion for their seizure had passed, 
but that the Government would thus be relieved of 
their disposition " 

General Lee was a member of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church, but was entirely free from all 
sectarian feeling. 

An anecdote given by an officer of the Engineers 
illustrates his truly Christian charity and moder- 
ation. 

During the last sad days at Petersburg, a soldier 
who had been in the habit of asking for furloughs 
very often, sent up a petition to General Lee, ask- 
ing to go to Richmond for the Passover, he being 
an Israelite. His captain, in wrath, indorsed upon 
the paper, " If all these sorts of applications are 



1869.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 343 

granted, we shall soon have the whole army turn- 
ing shaking Quakers.'^ General Lee sent back the 
petition with a kind note to the soldier, regretting 
that the exigencies of the times prevented his 
acceding to a request so natural and proper ; and 
below the captain's indorsement he wrote : " We 
should always have charity for those who diifer 
from us in religion, and give every man all the aid 
in our power to keep to the requirements of his 
faith." 

His delicacy in giving reproofs is exhibited in 
two incidents related by one of his chaplains. 

Upon one occasion, while inspecting the lines 
near Petersburg, with several general officers, he 

asked General if a certain work, which he had 

directed him to complete as soon as possible, had 

been finished. General looked rather confused, 

but answered that it was. General Lee at once pro- 
posed to ride in that direction. On getting to the 
place, it was found that no progress had been made 
on the work since General Lee was last there. 

General at once apologized, and said that he 

had not been on that part of the line for some time, 

but that Captain had told him that the work 

was completed. General Lee made no reply at the 
moment, but not long after began to compliment 

General on the splendid horse he rode. " Yes, 

sir," replied General , "he is a very fine ani- 
mal. He belongs to my wife." '' A remarkably 



344 A POPULAR -LIFE OF [1869. 

line horse,-' returned General Lee, " but not a safe 

one for Mrs. . He is too mettlesome by far, 

and you ought to take the mettle out of him before 
you permit her to ride him. And let me suggest, 

General , that an admirable way of doing that 

is to ride him a good deal along these trenches,'^ The 

face of the gallant General turned crimson. 

General Lee's eyes twinkled with mischief. ,No 
further allusion was made to the matter ; but Gen- 
eral adopted, the suggestion. 

Late one nig-lit, General Lee had occasion to 2:0 
into a tent where several officers were sitting around 
a table, on which was a stone jug and tivo tin cups, 
busily engaged in the discussion of a mathematical 
problem. The General obtained the information 
he desired, gave a solution of the problem, and re- 
tired, the officers hoping that he had not noticed 
the jug. The next day one of these officers, in 
presence of the others, related to General Lee a 
very strange dream he had had the night before. 
" That is not at all surprising," replied the General; 
" when young gentlemen discuss at midnight math- 
ematical problems, the unknown quantities of which 
are a stone jug and two tin cups, they may expect 
to have strange dreams." 

A friend, who had known General Lee in his 
early days, tells us in a letter, how early were formed 
those habits of self-restraint and self-denial which 
were so conspicuous in his character. 



1869.] GENERAL ROBERT E.LEF. 345 

" When an Assistant Professor at West Point, he 
told me it was the custom of the officers to meet 
just before dinner, to partake of some ' refresh- 
ment,' and that for a time he found himself arrang- 
ing to finish his round of business so as to meet 
this company, it being a very pleasant daily reunion. 
But finding after a while that he began to look to it 
with great eagerness, and fearing that a habit might 
be formed which would prove injurious to him, he 
ceased to attend the meetings, and determined never 
to ' indulge ' at all." 

While President of Washington College, Gen- 
eral Lee was present, one evening, when a party of 
gentlemen w^ere discussing some recent legislation 
of Congress upon Southern afifairs. They spoke 
with indignation and bitterness of the unjust and 
ungenerous treatment of the South. General Lee 
remained silent ; but when the conversation was 
over, wrote the following lines upon a slip of paper 
and handed them to the gentlemen, saying, " If a 
heathen poet could write in this way, what should 
be the feelins: of a Christian ? " 



'to 



Learn from yon orient shell to love thy foe, 
And store with pearls the hand that brings thee woe. 
Free, like yon rock, from base, vindictive pride. 
Emblaze with gems the wrist that rends thy side. 
Mark, where yon tree rewards the stony shower 
With fruit nectareous or the balmy flower. 
All nature cries aloud, — Shall man do less 
Than heal the smiter, and the railer bless? " 



346 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1870. 

Ko Life of General Lee would be complete which 
did not dwell upon that most distinguishing trait of 
his character, his unaffected sweetness, which sprang 
from the goodness of his heart. He was so tender- 
hearted, that a message from one of his old soldiers 
was seen to move him to tears. And a gentleman 
relates how he once saw him in a railroad-car ap- 
proach a poor soldier who in vain was tr^dng to 
draw his overcoat over his wounded arm. The 
General rose from his seat, put on the coat as gently 
as a woman would have done, and after speaking 
some pleasant words, quietly resumed his place, the 
wounded man little knowing that it was his Gen- 
eral who had rendered him this kindly service. 

His charities were so private, that it was known 
onl}^ after his death how much he had given to the 
orphan and widow and to different religious asso- 
ciations. His last act was to attend a meeting of 
the vestry of his church, and his last gift a contri- 
bution to some good object. 

The following, the last letter ever ^Denned by his 
hand, has been kindly furnished by his friend, 
Mr. S. H. Tagart, of Baltimore: 

" Lexington, Va., Sept. 28, 1870. 
*' My dear Mr. Tagart. 

"Your kind note of the 26th reached me this 
morning, and see how eas}^ it is ' to inveigle me 
into a correspondence.' In fact, when a man de- 
sires to do a thing, or when a thing gives a man 



1870.] GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. 347 

pleasure, he requires but small provocation to in- 
duce him to do it. Now I wanted to hear how you 
and Mrs. Tagart were, what you were doing, and 
how you had passed the summer, and I desired to 
tell you so. That is the reason I write. In answer 
to your question, I reply that I am much better. I 
do not know whether it is owino^ to havins^ seen 
you and Dr. Buckler last summer, or to my visit to 
the Hot Springs. Perhaps both. But my pains are 
less, and my strength greater. In fact, I suppose 
I am as well as I shall be. I am still following 
Dr. B.'s directions, and in time I may improve still 
more. I expect to have to visit Baltimore this fall, 
in relation to the Valley R. R., and in that event I 
hope to see you, if you will permit me. I am glad 
to hear that you spent a pleasant summer. Colonel 

and I would have had a more agreeable one 

had you been with us at the Hot, and as everyplace 
agrees so well with Mrs. Tagart, I think she could 
have enjoyed as good health there as at Saratoga, 
and we should have done better. 

" Give my sincere regards to Mrs. Tagart, and 

remember me to all friends, particularly Mr. . 

Tell his brother is. well and handsome, and I 

hope that he will study, or his sweethearts in Balti- 
more will not pine for him long. 

'' Captain is well and busy, and joins in my 

remembrances. Mrs. Lee and my daughters unite 
with me in messages to you and Mrs. Tagart, and I 
am most truly yours, 

"RE. Lee. 

" S. H. Tagart, Esq." 



348 A POPULAR LIFE OF [1870. 

On the evening of this day, 28th of September, 
after a morning of great fatigue, he attended the 
vestry meeting referred to, returned home, and, 
seated at the tea-table, opened his lips to give 
thanks to God. 

The family looked up to see the parted lips, but 
heard no sound. With that last thanksgiving his 
great heart broke. 

For many days his weeping friends hung over 
him, hoping for a return of health and reason, but 
in vain. He murmured of battles and sieges; of 
guarded tents and fields just won. Among his last 
words were : " Strike my tent ! Send for Hill ! " 
Remarkably coincident with those of his great 
Lieutenant, Jackson, whose words were : " Let 
A. P. Hill prepare for action ! March the infantry 
rapidly to the front ! Let us cross the river and 
rest under the shade of the trees." 

At 9 o'clock on the morning of the 12th of Octo- 
ber, the great soldier breathed his last. 

The following day his body was borne to the 
college-chapel, escorted by a guard of honor com- 
posed of Confederate soldiers, l^ext the hearse was 
led General Lee's favorite horse " Traveller," * who 
had borne him in so many battles. The Trustees 
and Faculty of the college, the cadets of the Military 
Institute, and the citizens, followed in procession. 

Above the chapel floated the flag of Virginia, 
draped in mourning. 

* " Traveller " only survived his master a few months. 



1870.] GENEKAL ROBERT E. LEE. 349 

Throngli this and the succeeding day, the body, 
covered with flowers, lay in state, visited by thou- 
sands wlio came to look for the last time upon his 
nol)le features. 

On the 15th, the last sad rites were rendered, 
amid the tolling of bells, the sound of martial 
music, and the thundering of artillery. 

The students, officers and soldiers of the Confed- 
erate army, and about a thousand persons, assem- 
bled at the chapel. A military escort, with the 
officers of General Lee's staff, were in the front. 
The hearse followed, with the faithful '' Traveller" 
close behind it. IN'ext came a committee of the 
Virginia Legislature, with citizens from all parts of 
the State. Passing the Military Listitute, the cadets 
made the military salute as the body appeared, 
then joined the procession, and escorted it back to 
the chapel. 

It had been the request of General Lee that no 
funeral oration should be pronounced over his re- 
mains. His old and long-tried friend, the Rev. 
Wm. 'N. Pendleton, simply read, the burial services 
of the Episcopal Church, after which was lowered 
into a tomb beneath the chapel all that was mortal 
of Robert E. Lee. 

We cannot better close this brief history than in 
the words of one of his ;N"orthern admirers,* who 
Bays of him : 

* Hon. John E. Ward. 
30 



350 



LIFE OF GENERAL LEE. 



[1870. 



" He lived to illustrate to the world how, despite 
failure and defeat, a soldier could command honor 
and love from those for whom he struggled, and 
admiration and respect from his foes, sucli as no 
success had ever before won for warrior, prince, or 
potentate. And when his life was ended, the whole 
population of the South, forming one mighty fu- 
neral procession, followed him to his grave. His 
obsequies modestly performed by those most ten- 
derly allied to him, he sleeps in the bosom of the 
land he loved so well. His spotless fame will 
gather new vigor and freshness from the lapse of 
time, and the day is not distant when that fame 
will be claimed, not as the property of a section, 
but as the heritage of a united people.'^ 




APPENDIX. 



WE need offer no apology for giving, in an Appendix, 
a brief summary of the history of Washington Col- 
lege, now the Washington and Lee University. 

It is remarkable that the institution which enjoyed the 
munificence and inherited the name of the hero of the 
first American Kevolution, should have opened its arms 
to receive, in his retirement, the foremost man of the 
second; that the College which was fostered by Wash- 
ington should have become the refuge of Lee, and should 
keep as its rich dowry the blended names and memories 
of these two peerless characters. 

The careei's, as well as the characters of these two great 
men, offer an interesting parallel. Both engaged reluc- 
tantly, but earnestly and from a strong sense of duty, in 
a rebellion against an established government. Both of 
them came into the contest at an age of matured judg- 
ment and ripe experience, enjoying at the outset the full 
confidence and affection of their countrymen. Both en- 
countered early in the struggle difficulties and disasters 
that seemed about to overwhelm them, and yet emerged 
from the "sea of troubles" facile princeps; and finally 
both added a crown of civic glory to the garland of mili- 
tary fame, endearing themselves anew in peace to those 
whom they had served so faithfully in war. 

351 



352 APPENDIX. 

9 
I. 

The Washington and Lee University. 

The Washington and Lee University had its origin 
more than a quarter of a century before the Revolu- 
tion, in a classical and mathematical school established 
in Augusta County, in the year 1749. Its founder, Rob- 
ert Alexander, Master of Arts from Trinity College, 
Dublin University, was one of the Scotch-Irish emigrants 
who had located in the Valley of Virginia. It was to 
meet the wants of this considerable settlement that this, 
the first high school in the Valley started into existence, 
to be afterwards developed to the proportions of a college 
as the community enlarged and prospered. Founded 
by members of the Scotch kirk, it was for a long while 
under the control and patronage of the Presbytery of 
Hanover, and during this period it was supplied with 
funds through the annual contributions of the people. 

Its locality was changed several times, and its name 
went through similar mutations. It was originally known 
as the " Augusta Academy." After the first battles of 
the Revolution, it was patriotically christened "Liberty 
Hall ; " afterwards changed to " Washington College," in 
acknowledgment of General Washington's gift to the 
institution. 

William Graham, one of the early principals of the 
academy, was a friend and fellow-student, at Princeton, 
of General Henry Lee, the father of General Robert Lee. 
It has been suggested that it was probably through Lee's 
influence with Washington, on behalf of his friend Gra- 
ham, that "Liberty Hall" was selected as the recipient 
of his noble benefaction. 

Mr. Graham, under whose able and zealous administra- 



APPENDIX. 353 

tion the College greatly flourished, introduced the same 
course of study pursued at Princeton, his alma mater ; and 
the MS. lectures of the President of Princeton Colleire 
were copied for the use of the students. 

In 1782, the College received a charter from the Legis- 
lature, and was after that time managed by trustees, its 
connection with the Presbytery being dissolved. 

Removed, in 1785, to within a short distance of Lex- 
ington, it was, upon the destruction of the building by 
fire, in 1803, finally established within the town limits. 

In 1793, General Washington settled upon the College 
the sum of $50,000, the proceeds of stock presented him 
by the State of Virginia in gratitude for his services 
during the Revolution, and accepted by him on the sole 
condition that it should be applied to some such object. 
He wrote, upon this occasion, to the Governor of Vir- 
ginia : 

" After careful inquiries to ascertain that place [in the 
upper country*], I have, upon the fullest consideration 
of all circumstances, destined the hundred shares in the 
James River Company to the use of Liberty Hall Acad- 
emy, in Rockbridge County." 

To the Board of Trustees he wrote : 

"To promote literature in this rising empire, and to 
encourage the arts, have ever been amongst the warmest 
wishes of my heart ; and if the donation which the gen- 
erosity of the Legislature of the Commonwealth has ena- 
bled me to bestow upon Liberty Hall — now, by your 
politeness, called Washington Academy — is likely to 

*His desire was to endow some institution "in the upper part 
of the State, for the education of the children of the poor, partic- 
ularly of such as have fallen in defence of the country." 
30-^ X 



354 APPENDIX. 

prove a means to accomplish these ends, it will contribute 
to the gratification of my desires." 

The " Society of the Cincinnati," composed of the sur- 
viving officers of the Kevolution, upon dissolving their 
association in 1803, anxious to emulate their leader, 
donated the residue of their funds, amounting to nearly 
$25,000, to the same institution. In 1826, an old soldier 
of Washington, one of the Trustees of the College, John 
Robinson, an Irishman, left to Washington College his 
entire estate, amounting, at the time, to $75,000. 

Thus, endowed by Washington and his compatriots, 
and associated preeminently with Virginia's historic past, 
this College seemed peculiarly appropriate as the scene 
of the closing labors of him whose great name, entwined 
with that of Washington, gives to the Lexington Uni- 
versity the title by which it will be known to posterity. 

II. 
The Funeral op General Lee. 

Lexington, Va., October 15, 1870. 

The funeral obsequies of General Robert E. Lee took 
place here to-day. The day was clear and pleasant, and 
many persons were present from a distance and from 
the surrounding country. Delegations from cities and 
Houses of the Legislature arrived in the morning to 
attend the funeral. To-day, as upon the past three days, 
all business was suspended, and every house was in 
mourning. 

The National Hotel, churches of various denomina- 
tions, the "Gazette" office, and public buildings, w^ere 
draped in mourning, flags were draped and at half-mast, 
bells were tolled and minute-guns fired during the mov- 



APPENDIX. 355 

ing of the procession and the services at the chapel. At 
10 o'clock the procession formed into line under Profes- 
sor White, of Washington College, Chief Marshal, aided 
by twenty Assistant Marshals, in the following order: 

3IUSia 

Escort of Honor, coisrsisTiNG of Officers and Soldiers 

OF THE Confederate Army. 

Chaplain and other Clergy. 

Hearse and Pall-bearers. 

General Lee's Horse. 

The Attending Physicians. 

Trustees and Faculty of Washington College. 

Dignitaries of the State of Virginia. 

Visitors and Faculty of Virginia Military Institute. 

Other Representative Bodies and Distinguished 

Visitors. 

Alumni of Washington College. 

Citizens. 

Cadets Virginia Military Institute. 

Students of Washington College as Guard of Honor. 

The procession was halted in front of the chapel, when 
the cadets of the Institute and the students of Washing- 
ton College were marched through the College chapel 
past the remains, and were afterwards drawn up in two 
bodies on the south side of the chapel. The remainder 
of the procession then proceeded into the chapel and 
were seated under the direction of the marshals. The 
gallery and side blocks were reserved for ladies. 

As the procession moved off to a solemn dirge by the 
Institute baud, the bells of the town began to toll, and 
the Institute battery fired minute-guns, which were kept 
up during the whole exercises. 

Along the streets the buildings were all appropriately 



356 appen'dix. 

draped, and crowds gathered on the corners and in the 
balconies to see the procession pass. Not a flag floated 
above the procession, and nothing was seen that looked 
like an attempt at display. The old soldiers wore their 
ordinary citizens' dress, with a simple black ribbon in 
the lapel of their coats, and "Traveller," led by two old 
soldiers, who had the simple trappings of mourning. 

The Virginia Military Institute was very beautifully 
draped, and from its turrets hung at - half-mast, and 
draped in mourning, the flags of all of the States of the 
late Southern Confederacy. 

When the procession reached the Institute it passed 
the corps of cadets drawn up in line, and a guard of 
honor presented arms as the hearse passed. When it 
reached the chapel, where an immense throng had assem- 
bled, the students and cadets, about 650 strong, marched 
into the left door and aisle past the remains and out by 
the right aisle and door to their appropriate place. The 
rest of the procession then filed in. 

The family, appropriately joined by Drs. Barton and 
Madison, the attending physicians, and Colonels W. H. 
Taylor and C. S. Venanble, members of General Lee's 
staflT during the war, occupied seats immediately in front 
of the pulpit, and the clergy, of whom a number were 
present. The Faculty of the College and Faculty of the 
Institute had places on the platform. 

The coffin was literally covered with flowers and ever- 
greens, while the front of the drapery thrown over it was 
decorated with crosses of evergreen and immortelles. 

Rev. Dr. Pendleton, the long intimate personal friend 
of General Lee, his chief of artillery during the war, and 
his pastor the past five years, read the beautiful services 
of the Episcopal Church. No sermon was preached, and 



APPENDIX. 357 

nothing said besides the simple service, in accordance 
with the known wishes of General Lee. 

After the funeral services were concluded in the chapel, 
the body was removed to the vault prepared for its 
reception, and concluding services read by the chaplain 
from the bank on the southern side of the chapel, in 
front of the vault. 

The pall-bearers were : Judge F. T. Anderson, David 

E, Moore, Sen., Trustees of the College; Commodore M. 

F. Maury, Captain J. M. Brooks, Professor W. Preston 
Johnson, Professor J. Eandolph Tucker, Professors of 
Washington College; William L. Prather, Edward P. 
Clark, students of Washington College ; Captain J. C, 
Bonde, Captain J. P. Moore, soldiers of the Confederate 
States Army; William G. White and Joseph G. Steele, 
citizens of Lexington. 

There was sung, in the chapel, the 124th hymn of the 
Episcopal collection ; and after the coffin was lowered into 
the vault, the congregation sang with fine effect the grand 
old hymn, 

"How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord."* 

The vault is constructed of brick, lined with cement. 
The top just reaches the floor of the library, and will be 
double-capped with white marble, on which is the simple 
inscription : 

"Robert Edward Lee. 

"Born Januahy 19th, 1807. Died October 12th, 1870." 

*Tliis was General Lee's favorite hymn. 



358 A p p E xx> I X . 

III. 
MexMorial Meetings. — Tributes of Respect. 
In the numerous meetings held throughout the country, 
to testify their sense of this national bereavement, many 
eloquent addresses were made by the friends and fellow- 
soldiers of the Southern hero. A number of these are 
given in the following pages. 

Baltimoee, Maryland, October 15^A.* 
MEETING AT MASONIC TEMPLE. PRELIMINARY RE- 
MARKS BY GENERAL TRIMBLE. 

" Fellow-Soldiers : — We are assembled together to 
express our sense of the grievous loss which we have sus- 
tained in the death of a beloved commander — a man 
who possessed the enviable power of inspiring, beyond all 
comparison, more of the respect, the admiration, and the 
love of mankind for his virtue, his genius, and for his 
kindly, generous nature, than any distinguished charac- 
ter who has ever inscribed his name on the pages of his- 
tory. We have deemed it our appropriate privilege to 
assemble together the companions in arms of General Lee. 
We claim the right to feel a peculiar sorrow for the loss 
of a beloved commander and friend, and no one, we hope, 
would deny us the mournful consolation of shedding a 
soldier's tear over a soldier's grave. We accord to all 
who love him the same sacred privilege. AVe could not 
hinder them, if we would ; for who shall forbid the hearts 
of a world from loving and mourning for General Robert 
E. Lee? Who shall restrain the eyes that weep and the 
tears which fall to swell the ocean of a nation's sorrow ? 

The perfections of his character must compel even the 

* October 15th, as the day of the funeral, was generally ob- 
served as a day of mourning throughout the South. 



APPENDIX. 359 

respect of his enemies (if, indeed, he really had any), and 
touch their hearts with sadness when the tomb closes over 
him. They and all will soon feel that his pure name and 
fame confer honor on our whole country, and on the 
world ; for virtues which tower to a sublime height reflect 
renown on all mankind. They belong to no section nor 
State. They are the common heritage and the common 
pride of humanity. As there are many here who did not 
serve in a military capacity, but who sympathize with us 
in the loss we deplore, we cordially invite them to par- 
ticipate in the expression of feeling prompted by love and 
veneration for his name." 

COLONEL MARSHALL [OF GENERAL LEE's STAFF]. 

" In presenting the Kesolutions of the Committee, I can- 
not refrain from expressing the feelings inspired by the 
memories that crowd upon my mind, when I reflect that 
these resolutions are intended to express what General 
Lee's soldiers feel towards General Lee. The Committee 
are fully aware of their inability to do justice to the sen- 
timents that inspire the hearts of those for whom they 
speak. How can we portray in words the gratitude, the 
pride, the veneration, the anguish that now fill the hearts 
of those who shared his victories and his reverses, his tri- 
umphs and his defeats ? How can we tell the world what 
we can only feel ourselves ? How can we give expression 
to the crowding memories called forth by the sad event 
we are met to deplore ? 

" We recall him as he appeared in the hour of victory — 
grand, imposing, awe-inspiring, yet self- forgetful and 
humble. We recall the great scene of his triumph when 
we hailed him victor on many a bloody field, and when, 
above the paeans of victory, we listened with reverence to 



360 APPENDIX. 

his voice as he ascribed ' all glory to the Lord of hos,ts, 
from whom all glories are.' We remember that grand 
magnanimity that never stooped to pluck those meaner 
things that grow nearest the earth upon the tree of vic- 
tory, but which, with eyes turned to the stars, and hands 
raised towards heaven, gathered the golden fruits of 
mercy, pity, and holy charity, that ripen on its top- 
most boughs, beneath the approving smile of the great 
God of battles. 

"We remember the sublime self-abnegation of Chan- 
cellorsvilie, when, in the midst of his victorious legions, 
who, with the light of battle yet on their faces, hailed him 
conqueror, he thought only of his great lieutenant, lying 
wounded on the field, and transferred to him all the 
honor of that illustrious day. I will be pardoned, I am 
sure, for referring to an incident which affords to my 
mind a most striking illustration of one of the grandest 
features of his character. 

" On the morning of May 3, 1863, as many of you will 
remember, the final assault was made upon the Federal 
lines at Chancellorsville. General Lee accompanied the 
troops in person, and as they emerged from the fierce 
combat they had waged in ' the depths of that tangled 
wilderness,' driving the superior forces of the enemy be- 
fore them across the open ground, he rode into their 
midst. The scene is one that can never be effaced from 
the minds of those who witnessed it. The troops were 
pressing forward with all the ardor and enthusiasm of 
combat. The white smoke of musketry fringed the front 
of the line of battle, while the artillery on the hills in the 
rear of the infantry shook the earth with its thunder, and 
filled the air with the wild shrieks of the shells that 
plunged into the masses of the retreating foe. To add 
greater horror and sublimity to the scene, the Chancel- 



APPENDIX. 361 

lorsville House and the woods surrounding it were 
wrapped in flames. In the midst of this awful scene, 
General Lee, mounted upon that horse which we all re- 
member so well, rode to the front of his advancing bat- 
talions. His presence was the signal for one of those 
uncontrollable outbursts of enthusiasm which none can 
appreciate who have not witnessed them. 

"The fierce soldiers, with their faces blackened with 
the smoke of battle, the wounded crawling with feeble 
limbs from the fury of the devouring flames, all seemed 
possessed with a common impulse. One long, unbroken 
cheer, in which the feeble cry of those who lay helpless 
on the earth blended with the strong voices of those who 
still fought, rose high above the roar of battle, and hailed 
the presence of the victorious chief. He sat in the full 
realization of all that soldiers dream of — triumph ; and 
as I looked upon him in the complete fruition of the suc- 
cess which his genius, courage, and confidence in his army 
had won, I thought that it must have been from such a scene 
that men in ancient days rose to the dignity of the gods. 

" His first care was for the wounded of both armies, and 
he was among the foremost at the burning mansion where 
some of them lay. But at that moment, when the trans- 
ports of his victorious troops were drowning the roar of 
battle with acclamations, a note was brought to him from 
General Jackson. It was brought to General Lee as he 
sat on his horse, near the Chancellorsville House, and, un- 
able to open it with his gauntleted hands, he passed it to 
me with directions to read it to him. The note made no 
mention of the wound that General Jackson had received, 
but congratulated General Lee upon the great victory. 

" I shall never forget the look of pain and anguish that 
passed over his face as he listened. With a voice broken 
31 



362 APPENDIX. 

with emotion, he bade me say to General Jackson that the 
victory was his, and that the congratulations were due to 
him. I know not how others may regard this incident, 
but for myself, as I gave expression to the thoughts of his 
exalted mind, I forgot the genius that won the day in my 
reverence for the generosity that refused its glory. 

"There is one other incident to which I beg permission 
to refer, that I may perfect the picture. On the 3d day 
of July, 1863, the last assault of the Confederate troops 
upon the heights of Gettysburg failed, and again General 
Lee was among the baffled and shattered battalions as 
they sullenly retired from their brave attempt. The his- 
tory of that battle is yet to be written, and the responsi- 
bility for the result is yet to be fixed. 

" But there, with the painful consciousness that his 
plans had been frustrated by others, and that defeat and 
humiliation had overtaken his army, in the presence of 
his troops he openly assumed the entire responsibility of 
the campaign and of the last battle. One word from him 
would have relieved him of the responsibility, but that 
word he refused to utter until it could be spoken without 
fear of doing the least injustice. Thus, my fellow-soldiers, 
I have presented to you our gxeat commander in the su- 
preme moments of triumph and of defeat. I cannot more 
strongly illustrate his character. Has it been surpassed 
in history? Is there another instance of such self-abne- 
gation among men ? The man rose high above victory 
in the one instance, and, harder still, the man rose supe- 
rior to disaster in the other. It was such incidents as 
these that gave General Lee the absolute and undoubting 
confidence and affection of his soldiers. 

"Need I speak of the 'many exhibitions of that confi- 
dence? You all remember them, my comrades. Have 
you not seen a wavering line restored by the magic of his 



APPENDIX. 363 

presence? Have you not seen the few forget that they 
were fighting against the many because he was among the 
few? But I pass from the contemplation of his great- 
ness in war to look to his example under the oppressive 
circumstances of final failure — to look to that example 
which it is most useful for us now to refer for our guidance 
and instruction. When the attempt to establish the 
Southern Confederacy had failed, and the event of the 
war seemed to have established the indivisibility of the 
Federal Union, General Lee gave his adhesion to the new 
order of afl^airs. 

"His was no hollow truce ; but with that pure faith and 
honor that marked every act of his illustrious career, he 
immediately devoted himself to the restoration of peace, 
harmony, and concord. He entered zealously into the 
subject of education, believing, as he often declared, that 
popular education is the only sure foundation of free gov- 
ernment. He gave his earnest support to all plans of 
internal improvement designed to bind more firmly to- 
gether the social and commercial interests of the country ; 
and among the last acts of his life was the effort to secure 
the construction of a line of railway communication of 
incalculable importance as a connecting link between the 
North and the South. He devoted all his great energies 
to the advancement of the welfare of his countrymen, 
while shrinking from public notice, and sought to lay 
deep and strong the foundations of the new fabric of gov- 
ernment which it was supposed would rise from the ruins 
of the old. But I need not repeat to you, my comrades, 
the history of his life since the war. You have watched 
it to its close, and you know how faithfully and truly he 
performed every duty of his position. 

" Let us take to heart the lesson of his bright example. 
Disregarding all that malice may impute to us, with an 



364 ATPEXDIX. 

eye single to the faithful performance of our duties as 
American citizens, and with the honest and sincere reso- 
lution to support, with heart and hand, the honor, the 
safety, and the true liberties of our country, let us invoke 
our fellow-citizens to forget the animosities of the past by 
the side of this honored grave, and joining hands around 
this royal corpse, friends now, enemies no more, proclaim 
perpetual truce to battle." 

THE RESOLUTIONS. 

" Colonel Marshall then reported the following resolu- 
tions : 

"The officers, soldiers, and sailors of the Southern 
Confederacy residing in Maryland, who served undei 
General Robert E. Lee, desiring to record their grief for 
his death, their admiration for his exalted virtues, and 
their affectionate veneration for his illustrious memory : 

"Ilesolve,!. That, leaving w^ith pride the name and fame 
of our illustrious commander to the judgment of history, 
we, who followed him through the trials, dangers, and 
hardships of a sanguinary and protracted war; who have 
felt tlie inspiration of his genius and valor in the time of 
trial; who have Vv'itnessed his magnanimity and modera- 
tion in the hour of victory, and his firmness and fortitude 
in defeat, — claim the privilege of laying the tribute of our 
heartfelt sorrow upon his honored grave. 

"2. That the confidence and admiration which his emi- 
nent achievements deserved and received, were strength- 
ened by the noble example of his constancy in adversity, 
and that we honored and revered him in his retirement, 
as we trusted and followed him on the field of battle. 

" 3. That, as a token of our respect and sorrow, we will 
wear the customary badge of mourning for thirty days. 



APPENDIX. 365 

" 4. That a copy of these resolutions and of tlie proceed- 
ings of this meeting be transmitted to the fiimily of our 
lamented chief." 

REMARKS OF HON. JOHN A. CAMPBELL. 

"Hon. John A. Campbell rose, and said : I second the 
adoption of the Resolutions. They refer to two distinct 
times in the life of General Lee, which are full of interest 
to every member of this country. The first is that period 
of his life which preceded the termination of the war, and 
the second that which followed and terminated with his 
death. It is forty-four years since my acquaintance with 
General Lee commenced in the relation of instructor and 
pupil ; for nearly twelve months I met him day by day, 
and received lessons from him. There are many who 
will say that the same qualities which distinguished him 
in his early life, remained with him to the close. He was 
interested in all, compassionate, assisting the weak, and 
instructing those that were strong. At the Military 
Academy he took a distinguished part, and there was 
but one who was his peer. He was detailed at the end 
of the year to instruct a class, which he did ; and at the 
same time maintained himself in his own class. In each 
of the four classes he had the highest grade, and after he 
graduated, hs was assigned to the corps of engineers. A 
long peace followed. When the war with Mexico began, 
and General Scott was placed in command, his eyes at 
once turned to General Lee. I once asked General 
Scott why he attempted to march to the city of Mexico 
Vv4th the material he had. He replied that he was obliged 
to do so, as the yellow fever was in Vera Cruz. He said 
he took two young men into a room, and made the plan of 
that campaign, and one of those men was General Lee. 
31* 



366 APPENDIX. 

All the reports of General Scott were full of encomiums 
of General Lee. After his return, he was promoted. I 
have seen something in the papers in relation to the capture 
of John Brown. I was in the Cabinet meeting when a 
message was sent to General Lee to know what had been 
done ; and he replied, giving the facts as they occurred. 
He had been sent to Harper's Ferry in command of a 
company of marines, and only did his duty. That Cabinet 
meeting decided that the United States should not inter- 
fere, but it should be left to Virginia. There was nothing 
but kindness extended to those prisoners after they were 
captured. 

"In 1861, v/hen General Lee resigned his commission 
in the United States army, some people spoke of treason. 
What could General Lee have done other than what he 
did ? What other course was open to him but the one 
he took? We all know that the command of the United 
States army was offered him before he resigned. Was it 
wealth? Was any man so blind as not to see that the 
powerful Kepublic to be found north of the Potomac 
could confer greater wealth than the States south? And 
his own estates were within range of the guns of the 
Federal army. He was early offered the command of the 
United States army, and it was late when he took com- 
mand of the armies of the South. But he went South, 
and left wealth and promotion behind him. Why did he 
go? It was because he was a Virginian. And if he 
had resigned the command of armies as large as those 
Prussia now has in the field, and had taken nothing but 
a small body of futile Virginia troops, he would have 
been justified. And why do I say so ? What was that 
State of Virginia, and how did that State of Virginia 
come into the Union? The name of Lee is associated 



APPENDIX. 367 

with everything that is high and honorable in that State. 
The Constitution emanated from Virginia beyond all 
other States, and Madison is called to this hour the father 
of the Constitution. That Constitution was debated in 
Virginia by the greatest men of the country. Washington 
was there, and Patrick Henry, Jefi'erson, and all the Lees. 
And what did they put to the bottom of it ? That if the 
United States should ever abuse the powers granted, it 
should be in the power of Virginia to withdraw. Were 
it possible to connect the word traitor with the name of 
Kobert E. Lee, I would say that, had he raised his sword 
against Virginia, it would have savored very much of 
treason. He never favored the secession of the Southern 
States. He probably, with Jackson and others, hesitated 
long before he yielded ; but when the necessity came, he 
gave up every feeling, and did everything which duty 
seemed to demand. General Lee was nearly a year with- 
out an important command, and it was whispered that he 
was a failure. He took the command late in 1862. I do 
not propose to follow him through his battles, and their 
history has not been written. His army was drawn to- 
gether from all quarters, and badly organized. His 
officers were without experience, and selected by a popu- 
lar vote. Without time for sufficient organization or 
preparation, the Seven Days' battle was fought. And 
while McClellan was at Harrison's Landing, two hundred 
thousand strong, Lee was obliged to go to the Potomac 
after Pope, leaving hardly a battalion between McClellan 
and Richmond. At the battle of Gettysburg no troops 
were left before Richmond, and it would have been as 
easy for the Federal army to have gone to Richmond as 
to go anywhere else. 

" At Chancellorsville, or Fredericksburg, he had but 



368 APPENDIX. 

one and one-half day's rations ; and if his march was 
impeded by a swollen torrent, he had to wait until it 
went down before he could cross. Upon one occasion, he 
sent word to the War OfSce at Richmond, that, if he did 
not get one thousand barrels of flour, he would have to dis- 
band his army. They then had had no meat for three days. 
The people of Kichmond raised the flour that time and 
sent it to the army ; but that could not be repeated. In 
March, 1864, General Lee said they were in no condition 
to carry on the war, and it was time to negotiate. He 
wrote, that, unless his circumstances were improved, he 
could not hold the lines before Richmond, nor move away 
from it. That letter was captured among the archives 
after the fall of Richmond ; and General Weitzel said, 
after reading it, that he was proud of him. With General 
Lee, there was nothing unexpected, nothing unforeseen. 
He had given counsel to meet every exigency, and when 
that failed, he still performed his duty ; and, until driven 
to the last extremity, never surrendered his sword. And 
what has he been since the war ? He came to Richmond, 
and I saw him. Richmond was in ruins ; he was held a pri- 
soner, and for some time he was not permitted to leave 
the city. Then he was carried to Congress before com- 
mittees, and to the courts, as a witness in the famous 
treason cases. As soon as he could, he went to the school. 
He was not seen seeking support, nor adulation ; but he 
sought only retirement, that he might perform his duty, 
and make an honorable living. He had the ofier of houses 
and lands ; but to all he said no. All eyes were concen- 
trated upon him. 'What does he do? what does he 
say ? ' were heard in every direction. But he was con- 
stant in the performance of his duty; every man looking 
to him in hope and confidence. He devoted himself to 



APPENDIX. 369 

thi3 building up of the college, the establishment of reli- 
gious institutions, and to the strengthening and fortifying 
of the characters of those under his control. What was 
Virginia once ? What has Virginia been in the past five 
years? Is there one of the name of Lee, or one of his 
compeers whose heart thrilled at the name ? It has been 
a leaden despotism. But without ostentation, and without 
complaint, he has been inspiring the people to maintain 
themselves under the calamities which surround them. 
The burden was too great, the pressure too strong, and 
the great leader was obliged to strike his tents. He has 
left his example to others, and gone to claim that crown 
which is always given to great actions." * 

COLONEL HENRY E. PEYTOn's REMARKS. 

"Mr. Chairman: — While within the broad limits 
of civilization men everywhere are turning aside from the 
every-day pursuits of life to pay voluntary tribute to de- 
parted greatness, it is peculiarly fitting that those who 
bore the relation to the lamented dead which exists be- 
tween a loved commander and devoted troops, should in 
a simple yet unmistakable form give expression to the 
feelings which oppress their hearts. The resolutions which 
have been read are not only expressive of the sentiments 
of those assembled, but are the echoes of that veneration 
and grief which have impressed an entire people, and are 
finding utterance on every hand in language of sincere 
mourning and unaffected eulogy. 

"The world is honoring itself in thus honoring the 
memory of one who has won more of its admiration than 
any great historic name since Washington. But while it 

* The remarks of .Tufl-ze Campbell were impromptu, and were 
very imperfectly reported by the press. 

Y 



370 APPENDIX. 

follows in the funeral procession, as admirers of the il- 
lustrious warrior, we have the proud privilege to stand 
around his bier as friends and mourners — as brothers in 
arms, nay, almost as the children of his heart. 

"Knowing all the splendid elements of his character as 
we did, — the fortitude inadversity ; the courage in disaster; 
the silence under imputation ; the sense of justice, which 
knew neither friendship nor kindred ; the tenderness 
which was like woman's ; the grand poise of feeling, 
which suffered no weak elation in the hour of victory, — we 
turn, like children appalled, from the tomb w^hich is 
closing upon our hero forever ; w^e feel as men who have 
lost the light of a great example, and been deprived of a 
guide and counsellor, upon wdiom we have learned to lean 
with a confiding and enduring trust. 

" Mr. Chairman, it would not be appropriate for me to 
indulge in the language of extended eulogy. A character 
which needs philosophic analysis, to place the different 
elements that constitute greatness and strength and ex- 
cellence in their proper and harmonious relations, affords 
too prolific a theme for an occasion like this, or abilities 
like mine. This is more appropriately the work of the 
critic and the historian. We come to mourn, not to 
praise. We are here to weep, not to review. Our utter- 
ances are the leaping words that come unbidden from 
breaking hearts, not the polished periods that flow from 
the lips of orators. We need not, sir, and have not in- 
voked, the accessories of eloquence ; the occasion itself is 
eloquent ; the influences and the surroundings of the hour 
are an inspiration ; and may the day never come W'hen the 
silver tongue of the orator will be necessary to bring 
mourners to the grave of Eobert E. Lee. 

" Well may we leave to history, whilst mingling our 
tears with the grief of our people, the duty of portraying 



APPENDIX. 371 

to fiiture generations the man who has in our day 
strengthened our faith in our own race, by the lofty 
height to which his own great nature so easily bore him. 

" At another and more suitable time, we may trench 
upon the province of the historian, which speaks of bat- 
tles, and victories, and disasters ; of the march, the 
bivouac, and the camp ; of the personal and thrilling in- 
cidents that come crowding in upon the mind in this 
great military presence. Tempting as are these martial 
themes, and vivid as they might be wrought, let us follow 
the example of our great chief, and turn from these to 
peaceful thoughts. Let us, to-night, leave Lee the soldier, 
and contemplate Lee the citizen. Let us draw lessons 
from a history the noblest, the grandest, the most inspiring 
the world has ever known. Let us study that wonderful 
adaptation of a purely military character to the calm, im- 
perious duties of exacting peace. Let us recall that 
peerless fortitude and more than royal dignity which 
gave to the dark hour of final surrender more of triumph 
than of defeat. Let us put to heart and impress on those 
who are to come after us that spirit of self-abnegation 
which, in the midst of poverty, refused every benefaction, 
and with a pathos and power above all earthly eloquence, 
spoke, from the depths of his great soul, to a friend : 'My 
countrymen offer me everything but work.' 

" Fellow-soldiers, there is no better incident in the life 
of this great man, fraught as it was with lessons for good, 
than the simple fact that, whilst he declined land and houses 
and stocks and bonds, and taxed the ingenuity of friendship 
to invent new channels of approach, even with the simplest 
offerings of love, yet accepted at a trifling salary the first 
position offered hiju by which he could make his living 
by his own hands. These are words, and this is an ex- 



372 APPENDIX. 

ample, that should be recorded in letters of gold, to 
inspire the youth not only of this, but succeeding gene- 
rations. They elevate their author to an immeasur- 
able height of moral grandeur, until, like the mountain 
peaks of his own well-loved State, he seems to rise to an 
altitude of virtue which leaves commoner spirits in the 
clouds beneath. Who knows better than the men I 
address to-night, the Macaria-like sacrifice assumed by 
our beloved commander, when he formed the high pur- 
pose to descend to the level of his altered condition? It 
was hard for the soldier to be transformed at once into 
the citizen. It was hard for the great captain of the age, 
who had ridden at the head of victorious armies — a 
leader at the mention of whose name the world had 
bowed in awe — to leap from the saddle of his ever-faithful 
gray, (scarcely less famous or less dear than his noble 
rider to men who followed his fortunes and fought under 
his banners,) into the dreary and uncongenial duties of 
the pedagogue's closet. Yet it was done, and done as all 
things else — done well. How well? Go ask the five 
hundred students that sat under his teachings, and 
gathered wisdom in that temple of learning, which has 
grown by his handiwork from small beginnings to its pres- 
ent complete proportions and increasing power. Wash- 
ington College is a living monument of the tireless energy 
and ceaseless toil of the mind — thought to be trained 
only for the business of war. It was not an easy thing 
for men whose hands were used to the grasp of the mus- 
ket, to suddenly substitute the sickle or the scythe, nor to 
find in the harvest-field the excitement of the battle-field. 
It was not a pleasant thing for those who were accus- 
tomed to command to be themselves commanded, and feel 
the tyranny which is so often inflicted by the powerful 



APPENDIX. 373 

upon tlie powerless. But these things, and worse, have 
been borne in silence by the men of the Lost Cause, who 
survived the terrors of the conflict. The temptation to 
repine, if not to rebel, was never greater since men first 
went to war or failed in battle. But in the midst of 
their disbeartenings, which bordered on despair, the voice 
of the great Captain came to his disbanded battalions, 
and commanded them to suffer and be strong ; to learn to 
labor and to wait ; to seek, in the pursuits of civil life, 
relief from the excitements of war ; and, in the fields of 
industry, to build again the broken shrines of their house- 
hold gods. None know better than we the power of these 
inspiring counsels. Nor how we turned to that mountain 
retreat at Lexington, and sought amid the porticos of an 
ancient college the word of admonition from those lips 
w^hich had so often spoken the stern command of battle. 

"But, Mr. Chairman, that voice is hushed in death. 
Nothing rem.ains to us but the echoes of its warnings and 
the wisdom of its teachings. Let us cherish them as a 
legacy of priceless value. Let us keep before our minds, 
and the minds of our children, the lessons of that great 
life, for, like the fabled Pharos of the East, it will be a 
light and a guide forever. Let us feel that whilst the 
tomb has received all that is mortal of this Christian sol- 
dier, that his spirit still lives, and that no charnel-house 
can confine in its gloomy chambers the glory of a name 
like his." 

REV. THOMAS U. DUDLEY's REMARKS. 

Mr. Dudley said : — "I count myself happy that, 
though almost a stranger in this home of my adoption, I 
am permitted to speak as a Confederate soldier to Con- 
federate soldiers, gathered together upon this sad occasion. 



374 APPENDIX. 

I count myself happy that, by the courtesy of the Com- 
mittee of Arrangements, I am permitted to bring my little 
flower to add to the regal wreath of immortelles gathered 
to place on the grave of our father-chieftain who is 
gone. 

"Yes, they have buried him to-day, brother-soldiers, 
in his mountain home, 'neath the church he builded. 
Perhaps some day a nation will demand that his dust 
shall be buried near her capital. Perhaps some day the 
Richmond he defended will guard the precious remains. 
Let him be buried there — not on the hill with the Presi- 
dents,* but bury him where " the boys " lie, that when the 
grand reveille sounds, they may behold their chieftain in 
their midst. For that grand reveille will sound, and it is 
of this that I would speak. I come not to speak of him 
as patriot, for you have been told by one who knew and 
loved him long, who has sat at his feet as his pupil, the 
capacity of his great heart to take in its embrace all the 
land he served. I will not speak of him as soldier, for 
you have been just told of the glory which he brought 
to that flag which poor, puny malice would not suffer to 
be lowered to half-mast in honor of him dead.f I will 
not speak of him as soldier to men who have seen, under 
his prescient guidance, a handful chase a thousand ; who 
have seen the marvellous circle of retreat, ever keeping 
the shield of his army between the foe and the city he de- 
fended. I come to speak of him, not as patriot, but as 

*Upon a high hill in Hollywood Cemetery, overlooking the falls 
of the James River, are the graves of two Presidents of the United 
States, Tyler and Monroe, 

•j- An allusion to the action of a United States official in Savan- 
nah, Ga., who refused to allow the flag of the Custom-House to 
remain at half-mast. 



APPENDIX. 375 

Christian patriot ; not as soldier, but as Christian soldier. 
You are building to-night, in your breasts, a monument 
to the dead hero ; patriot and soldier are graven there. 
I come to write Christian above them. Was he a Chris- 
tian? I will relate an incident as illustrative: It was in 
the beginning of that long cold winter of 1862, when the 
battle round Richmond had been fought, and Manassas 
and Sharpsburg, that the army, weary of the hard cam- 
paign, was camped on those bleak hills about Winches- 
ter. An order came for a grand review — one of those 
sad displays w^e can so well remember — so sad, and yet 
necessary to the discipline and efficiency of the army. 
There were no bright trappings, nor glitter of gold ; the 
only glitter was the fire of determination in brave men's 
eyes. But all would appear in their best. There was a 
chaplain who, in obedience, as he believed, to this order, 
put on the pure white robe of his office and went to the 
review. Doubtless he heard the derisive laugh, the sneer- 
ing remarks of those about him ; but when the command 
he marched with passed the great chief, the officers tell us 
that, lifting his hat, he said : ' I salute the Church of 
God.' The eye that w^as busy inspecting the accoutre- 
ments, the arms, the troops in which he trusted to do the 
work he had to do, could see the chaplain's robe. The 
commander, who sat in the immovable majesty we can 
remember so well, bent his uncovered head to salute the 
Church of the God he served. 

" Again. It was when the boom of the occasional gun 
could be heard in Richmond. Seven Pines had been 
fought and won. The Seven Days' fight had not yet be- 
gun. In a chamber in the beleaguered city an aged min- 
ister of God lay dying. Could our eyes have penetrated 
the recesses of that chamber in the close of one afternoon, 



376 APPENDIX. 

we should have seen the hero whom we mourn, booted 
and spurred, fresh from his victorious legions, kneeling 
by the bedside of the dying bishop to receive his bless- 
ing, that he might certify him by this sign of the favor 
and goodness of the God he served. We should have 
heard the words of blessing : ' Robert, Kobert,' — for he 
had held him in his arms in infancy, — 'stand up for our 
country, and God will bless you.' Was he Christian ? 
Thus, soldiers, he saluted, with lifted hand and bended 
knee, and humble heart, the Church of God. Remember 
it : not only patriot, soldier, but Christian. Therefore we 
are comforted, because the light that streams from one 
open, tomb, makes bright all the darkness of the place 
whither he is gone. Because he was Christian here, we 
may believe, on the assurance of the Word of God, that 
the Church of God has risen up to salute him in the para- 
dise where he is entered. The sad expression we can re- 
member so well is gone from his face now, for the burden 
of the Lost Cause no more oppresses his heart ; because 
he has been a soldier in the cause that can never be lost. 
It no more grieves him that the conquered banner is 
folded and weary, for he has fought bravely and well un- 
der the banner that floats triumphant from the battle- 
ments of heaven, and shall float forever. 

" There is left to us, brother soldiers, more than the 
mournful privilege to tell over to our hearts, and to our 
children, the battles, sieges, victories, and defeats, he won 
and suffered. There is left to us the grand example of 
God's faithful servant, that we may follow. He being 
dead, yet speaketh, bidding you, his soldiers, to enlist 
under the Christian banner. This is his command. You 
did never fail to follow where he led ; you did never flinch 
or falter to do his bidding. This is the command he 



APPENDIX. 377 

speaks : Enlist and battle for God and Christ, so that, 
when our end shall come, we too, like Him, may wrap the 
drapery of our couch about us, and lay us down — not to 
dreams, but to the eternal realities which eye hath not 
seen nor ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of 
man to conceive, but which God hath prepared for them 
that love Him — that we, too, may hear, as we trust he 
has heard, the greeting : 

"'Soldier of Christ, well done! 
Rest from thy loved employ ; 
Thy battle 's o'er, thy victory won, — 
Enter thy Muster's joy.'" 

-• 

Louisville, Kentucky, October 15th. 
ADDRESS OF GENERAL BRECKINRIDGE. 

" Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — In the 
humble part which it falls to me to take in these inter- 
esting ceremonies, if for any cause it has been supposed 
that I am to deliver a lengthy address, I am not respon- 
sible for the origination of that supposition. I came here 
to-night simply to mingle my grief with yours at the loss 
of one of our most distinguished citizens, and, indeed, I 
feel more like silence than like words. I am awe-stricken 
in the presence of this vast assemblage, and ray mind 
goes back to the past. It is pre-occupied by memories 
coming in prominent review of the frequent and 'ever 
varying vicissitudes which have characterized the last 
ten years. I find myself in the presence of a vast assem- 
blage of the people of this great and growing city, who 
meet together without distinction of party, and presided 
over by your chief officer, for the purpose of expressing 
respect to the memory of the man who was the leader of 
32* 



378 APPENDIX. 

the Confederate armies in the late war between the States. 
It is in itself the omen of re-union. 1 am not surprised 
at the spectacle presented here. Throughout the entire 
South one universal cry of grief has broken forth at the 
death of General Lee, and in a very large portion of the 
North manly and noble tributes have been paid to his 
memory. 

" My words shall be brief, but plain. Why is it that 
at the South we see this universal, spontaneous demon- 
stration ? First, because most of the people mourn the loss 
of a leader and a friend, but beyond that I must say they 
seem to enter an unconscious protest against the ascription 
either to him or them of treason or personal dishonor. It 
may be an unconscious protest against the employment, 
by a portion of the public press, of those epithets which 
have ceased to be used in social intercourse. It is an invi- 
tation, on their part, to the people of the North and South, 
East and West, if there be any remaining rancor in their 
bosoms, to bury it in the grave forever. I will not recall 
the past. I will not enter upon any considerations of the 
cause of that great struggle. This demonstration we see 
around us gives the plainest evidence that there is no dispo- 
sition to indulge in useless repinings at the results of that 
great struggle. It is for the pen of the historian to declare 
the cause, progress, and probable consequences of it. In 
regard to those who followed General Lee, who gloried in 
his successes and shared his misfortunes, I have but this 
to say : the world watched the contest in which they were 
engaged, and yet gives testimony to their gallantry. The 
magnanimity with which they accepted the results of 
their defeat, the obedience they have yielded to the laws 
of the Federal Government, give an exhibition so rare that 
they are ennobled by their calm and dignified submission. 



APPENDIX. 379 

For the rest, their escutcheon is unstained. The con- 
querors themselves, for their own glory, must confess that 
they were brave. Neither, my friends, do I come here 
to-night to speak of the military career of General Lee. 
I need not speak of it this evening. I believe that this 
is universally recognized, not only in the United States, 
but in Europe ; it has made the circuit of the world. I 
come but to utter my tribute to him as a man and as a 
citizen. As a man, he will be remembered in history as 
the man of the epoch. How little need I to speak of his 
character, after listening to the thrilling delineation of it 
which we had this morning? We all know that he was 
great, noble, and self-poised. He was just and moderate, 
but was, perhaps, misunderstood by those who were not 
personally acquainted with him. He was supposed to be 
just, but cold. Far from it. He had a warm, affectionate 
heart. During the last year of that unfortunate struggle, 
it was my good fortune to spend a great deal of time with 
him. I was almost constantly by his side, and it was 
during the two months immediately preceding the fall of 
Richmond that I came to know and fully understand the 
true nobility of his character. In all those long vigils 
he was considerate and kind, gentle, firm, and self-poised. 
I can give no better idea of the impression it made upon 
me than to say it inspired me with an ardent love of the 
man and a profound veneration of his character. It was 
so massive and noble, so grand in its proportions, that all 
men must admire its heroism and gallantry, yet so gentle 
and tender that a w^oman might adopt and claim it as her 
own. . . . 

" But he failed. The result is in the future. It may 
be for better or for worse. We hope for the better. But 
this is not the teat of his greatness and goodness. Success 



380 APPENDIX. 

often gilds the shallow man, but it is disaster alone that 
reveals the qualities of true greatness. Was his life a 
failure? Is only that man successful who erects a ma- 
terial monument of greatness by the enforcement of his 
ideas ? Is not that man successful also, who, by his valor, 
moderation, and courage, with all their associate virtues, 
presents to the world such a specimen of true manhood as 
his children and children's children will be proud to 
imitate ? In this sense he did not fail. 

" Pardon me for having detained you so long. I know 
there are here and there those who will reach out 
and attempt to pluck from his name the glory which sur- 
rounds it, and strike with malignant fury at the honors 
awarded to him ; yet history will declare that the remains 
which repose in the vault, beneath the little chapel in the 
lovely Virginia valley, are not only those of a valorous 
soldier, but those of a great and good American." 



GENERAL WILLIAM PRESTON. 

" Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : — I feel 
that it would be very difficult for me to add any eulogy 
to those which are contained in the resolutions of the 
Committee, or a more merited tribute of praise than those 
which have already fallen from the lips of the gentlemen 
who have preceded me. Yet, on an occasion like this, I 
am willing to come forward and add a word to testify my 
appreciation of the great virtues and admirable character 
of one that commands, not only our admiration, but that 
of the entire country ; not alone of the entire country, 
but his character has excited more admiration in Europe 
than among ourselves. 

"In coming ages, his name will be marked with lustre, 



APPENDIX. 381 

and will be one of the richest treasures of the future. I 
speak of one just gone down to death ; ripe in all the 
noble attributes of manhood, and illustrious by deeds the 
most remarkable in character that have occurred in the 
history of America since its discovery. It is now some 
two-and-twenty years since I first made the acquaintance 
of General Lee. He was then in the prime of manhood, 
in Mexico, and I first saw him as the chief engineer of 
General Scott in the Valley of Mexico. I see around me 
two old comrades who then saw General Lee. He was a 
man of remarkable personal beauty and great grace of 
body. He had a finished form, delicate hands; was 
graceful in person, while here and there a gray hair 
streaked with silver the dark locks with which nature 
had clothed his noble brow. There were discerning 
minds that appreciated his genius, and saw in him the 
coming Captain of America. His commander and his 
comrades appreciated his ability. To a club which was 
then organized he belonged, together with General 
McClellan, General Albert Sydney Johnston, General 
Beauregard, and a host of others. They recognized in 
Lee a master-spirit. 

" He was never violent ; he never wrangled. He was 
averse to quarrelling, and not a single difficulty marked 
his career; but all acknowledged his justness and won- 
derful evenness of mind. Rare intelligence, combined with 
these qualities, served to make him a fit representative of 
his great prototype, General Washington. He had been 
accomplished by every finish that a military education 
could bestow. I remember when General Lee was ap- 
pointed lieutenant-colonel at the same time that Sydney 
Johnston was appointed colonel, and General Scott thought 
that Lee should have been colonel. I was talking with 



382 APPENDIX. 

General Scott on the subject long before the late struggle 
between the North and the South took place ; and he then 
said that Lee was the greatest living soldier in America. 
He did not object to the other commission ; but he thought 
Lee should have been first promoted. Finally he said to 
me, with emphasis, which you will pardon me for relating, 
* I tell you, that, if I were on my death-bed to-morrow, 
and the President of the United States should tell me 
that a great battle was to be fought for the liberty or 
slavery of the country, and asked my judgment as to the 
ability of a commander, I would say, with my dying 
breath, let it be Robert E. Lee ! ' Ah ! great soldier 
that he was ! princely general that he was ! he has ful- 
filled his mission, and borne it so that no invidious tongue 
can level the shafts of calumny at the great character 
which he has left behind him. 

"But, ladies and gentlemen, it was not in this that the 
matchless attributes of his character were found. You 
have assembled here, not so much to do honor to General 
Lee, but to testify your appreciation of the worth of the 
principles governing his character ; and if the minds of 
this assemblage were explored, you would find, there was 
a gentleness and a grace in his character which had won 
your love, and brought forth testimonials of universal 
admiration. Take but a single instance. At the battle 
of Gettysburg, after the attack on the cemetery, where his 
troops were repulsed aud beaten, the men threw up their 
muskets, and said, 'General, we have failed, and it is our 
fault!' — *No, my men,' said he, knowing the style of 
fighting of General Stonewall Jackson, ' you have done 
well ; 't is my fault ; I am to blame, and no one but me.' 
What man is there that would not have gone to renewed 
death for such a leader ? So, when we examine his whole 



APPENDIX. 383 

character, it is in his private life that you find his true 
greatness — the Christian simplicity of his character, and 
his great veneration for truth and nobility, the grand 
elements of his greatness. What man could have laid 
down his sword at the feet of a victorious general with 
greater dignity than did he at Appomattox Court-House? 
He laid down his sword with grace and dignity, and 
secured for his soldiers the best terras that fortune would 
permit. In that he shows marked greatness seldom shown 
by great captains. 

" After the battle of Sedan, the w41d cries of the citizens 
of Paris went out for the blood of the emperor ; but at 
Appomattox, veneration and love only met the eyes of 
the troops who looked upon their commander. I will not 
trespass upon your time much further. When I last saw 
him, the raven hair had turned white. In a small village 
cluirch his reverent head was bowed in prayer. The 
humblest step was that of Robert E. Lee, as he entered 
the portals of the temple erected to God. In broken 
responses, he answered to the services of the church. 
Noble, sincere, and humble in his religion, he showed 
forth his true character in laying aside his sword to edu- 
cate the youth of his country. Never did he appear more 
noble than at that time. He is now gone, and rests in 
peace, and has crossed that mysterious stream that Stone- 
wall Jackson saw wdth inspired eyes when he asked that 
he might be permitted to take his troops across the river 
and forever rest beneath the shadows of the trees." 

New Orleans, Louisiana. 

HON. THOMAS J. SEMMES. 

" Robert E. Lee is dead. The Potomac, overlooked by 
the home of the hero, once dividing contending peoples 



384 APPENDIX. 

but now no longer a boundary, conveys to the ocean a 
nation's tears. South of the Potomac is mourning ; pro- 
found grief pervades every heart, kimentation is heard 
from every hearth, for Lee sleeps among the slain whose 
memory is so dear to us. In the language of Moina : 

" ' They wei*e slain for us, 
And their blood flowed out in a rain for us, 
Red, rich, and pure, on the plain for us ; 
And years may go, 
But our tears >hall flow 
O'er the dead who have died in vain for us.' 

" North of the Potomac not only sympathizes with its 
widowed sister, but, with respectful homage, the brave 
and generous, clustering around the corpse of the great 
Virginian, with one accord, exclaim : 

" ' This earth, that bears thee dead, 
Bears not alive so stout a gentleman.' 

"Sympathetic nations, to whom our lamentations have 
been transmitted on the wings of lightning, will, with 
pious jealousy, envy our grief, because Robert E. Lee was 
an American. Seven cities claimed the honor of having 
given birth to the great Pagan poet; but all Christian 
nations, while revering America as the mother of Robert 
E. Lee, will claim for the nineteenth century the honor 
of his birth. There was but one Lee, the great Christian 
captain, and his fame justly belongs to Christendom. The 
nineteenth century has attacked everything — it has at- 
tacked God, the soul, reason, morals, society, the distinc- 
tion between good and evil, — but Christianity is vindicated 
by the virtues of Lee. He is the most brilliant and co- 
gent argument in favor of a system illustrated by such a 



APPENDIX. 385 

man ; he is the type of the reign of hiw in the moral order 
— that reign of law which the philosophic Duke of Ar- 
gyle has so recently and so ably discussed, as pervading 
the natural as well as the supernatural world. One of the 
chief characteristics of the Christian is duty. Throughout 
a checkered life, the conscientious performance of duty 
seems to have been the mainspring of the actions of Gen- 
eral Lee. In his relations of father, son, husband, soldier, 
citizen, duty shines conspicuous in all his acts. His 
agency as he advanced to more elevated stations, attracts 
more attention and surrounds him with a brighter halo 
of glory ; but he is unchanged — from first to last it is 
Robert E. Lee. 

" The most momentous act of his life was the selection 
of sides at the commencement of the political troubles 
which immediately preceded the late conflict. High in 
military rank, caressed by General Scott, courted by 
those possessed of influence and authority, no politician, 
happy in his domestic relations, and in the enjoyment of 
competent fortune, consisting in the main of property 
situated on the borders of Virginia, — nevertheless, im- 
pelled by a sense of duty, as he himself testified before a 
Congressional committee since the war. General Lee de- 
termined to risk all and unite his fortunes with those of 
his native State, whose ordinances, as one of her citizens, 
he considered himself bound to obey. 

"Having joined the Confederate army, he complained 
not that he was assigned to the obscure duty of constructing 
coast defences for South Carolina and Georgia, nor that 
he was subsequently relegated to unambitious commands 
in AYestern Virginia. The accidental circumstance that 
General Joseph E. Johnston was wounded at the battle 
of Seven Pines in May, 1862, placed Lee in command of 
33 Z 



386 APPENDIX. 

the ariny of Northern Virginia. As commander of that 
army he achieved a world-wide reputation, without giving 
occasion, during a period of three years, to any complaint 
on the part of officers, men, or citizens, or enemies, that 
he had been guilty of any act, illegal, oppressive, unjust, 
or inhuman in its character. This is the highest tribute 
possible to the wisdom and virtue of General Lee ; for, as a 
general rule, law was degraded ; officers, whether justly or 
unjustly, were constantly the subject of complaint and dis- 
cord, and jealousy prevailed in camp and in the Senate- 
chamber. There was a fraction of our people represented 
by an unavailing minority in Congress, who either felt, or 
professed to feel, a jealousy whose theory was just, but whose 
application, at such a time, was unsound. They wished to 
give as little power as possible, because they dreaded a mili- 
tary despotism, and thus desired to send our armies forth 
with half a shield and broken swords to protect the govern- 
ment from its enemies, lest, if the bucklers were entire and 
the swords perfect, they might be tempted, in the heyday of 
victory, to smite their employers. But this want of con- 
fidence never manifested itself toward General Lee, whose 
conduct satisfied the most suspicious that his ambition 
was not of glory, but of the performance of duty. The 
army always felt this : the fact, that he sacrificed no 
masses of human beings in desperate charges that he 
might gather laurels from the spot enriched from their 
gore. A year or more before he was appointed com- 
mander-in-chief of all the Confederate forces, a bill passed 
Congress creating that office. It failed to become a law, 
the President having withheld his a})proval. Lee made 
no complaints ; his friends solicited no votes to counteract 
the veto. When a bill for the same purpose w^as passed 
at a subsequent period, it was whispered about that he 



APPENDIX. 387 

could not accept the position. To a committee of Vir- 
ginians who had called on him to ascertain the truth, his 
reply was, that he felt bound to accept any post the du- 
ties of which his country believed him competent to per- 
form. After the battle of Gettysburg he tendered his resig- 
nation to President Davis, because he was apprehensive 
his failure, the responsibility for which he did not pre- 
tend to throw on his troops or officers, would produce dis- 
trust of his abilities and destroy his usefulness. I am in 
formed, the President, in a beautiful and touching letter, 
declined to listen to such a proposition. During the 
whole period of the w^ar he steadily declined all. presents, 
and when, on one occasion, a gentleman sent him several 
dozen of wine, he turned it over to the hospitals in Rich- 
mond, saying the sick and wounded needed it more than 
he. He was extremely simple and unostentatious in his 
habits, and shared with his soldiers their privations as 

well as their dangers Duty alone induced this 

great soldier to submit to such privation, for the slightest 
intimation given to friends in Kichmond would have 
filled his tent with all the luxuries that blockade-runners 
and speculators had introduced for the favored few able 
to purchase. 

"This performance of duty was accompanied by no 
harsh manner or cynical expressions ; for the man whose 
soul is ennobled by true heroism possesses a heart as tender 
as it is firm. His calmness under the most trying cir- 
cumstances, and his uniform sweetness of manner, were 
almost poetical. They manifested 'the most sustained 
tenderness of soul that ever caressed the chords of a lyre.' 
In council he was temperate and patient, and his words 
fell softly and evenly as snow-flakes, like the sentences 
that fell from the lips of Ulysses. 



388 APPENDIX. 

"Since the termination of the war, his conduct until his 
death has challenged the admiration of friends and foes. 
He honestly acquiesced in the inevitable result of the 
struggle. No discontent, sourness, or complaint has 
marred his tranquil life at Washington College, where 
death found him at his post of duty, engaged in fitting 
the young men of his country, by proper discipline and 
education, for the performance of the varied duties of life. 
It is somewhat singular that both Lee and his great lieuten- 
ant Jackson should in their last moments have referred 
to Hill. It is reported that General Lee said : ' Let my 
tent be struck ! Send for Hill ! ' while the lamented Jack- 
son, in his delirium, cried out : * Let A. P. Hill prepare 
for action ! March the infantry rapidly to the front ! 
Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of 
the trees.' Both heroes died with commands for mili- 
tary movements on their lips ; both the noblest specimens 
of the Christian soldier produced by any country or any 
ao;e ; both now rest under the shade of the trees of 
heaven." 

REV. DR. PALMER. 

" Ladies and Gentlemen : I should have been better 
pleased had I been permitted to sit a simple listener to 
the eloquent tribute paid to the immortal chieftain who 
now reposes in death, by the speaker who has just taken 
his seat. The nature of my calling so far separates me 
from public life that I am scarcely competent for the 
office of alluding to the elements which naturally gather 
around his career. When informed that other artists 
would draw the picture of the warrior and the hero, I 
yielded a cheerful compliance, in the belief that nothing 
was left but to describe the Christian and the man. You 



APPENDIX. 389 

are entirely familiar witli the early life of him over whose 
grave you this night shed tears; with his grave and sedate 
boyhood giving promise of the reserved force of mature 
manhood ; with his academic career at West Point, where 
he received the highest honors of a class brilliant with 
such names as General Joseph E. Johnston ; his seizure 
of the highest honors of a long apprenticeship in that 
institution, and his abrupt ascension in the Mexican war 
from obscurity to fame — all are too firmly stamped in 
the minds of his admirers to require even an allusion. 
You are too familiar, to need repetition from my lips, 
with that great mental and spiritual struggle, when, 
abandoning the service in which he had gathered so 
much of honor and reputation, he determined to lay his 
heart upon the altar of his- native State, and swear to live 
or die in her defence. 

" It would be a somewhat singular subject of specula- 
tion to discover how it is that national character so often 
remarkably expresses itself in single individuals who are 
born as representatives of a class. It is wonderful, for it 
has been the remark of ages, how the great are born in 
clusters ; sometimes, indeed, one star shining with solitary 
splendor in the firmament above, but generally gathered 
in grand constellations, filling the sky with glory. What 
is that combination of influences, partly physical, partly 
intellectual, but somewhat more moral, which should 
make a particular country productive of men great over 
all others on earth, and to all ages of time? Ancient 
Greece, with her indented coast, inviting to maritime 
adventures, from her earliest period was the mother of 
heroes in war, of poets in song, of sculptors and artists, 
and stands up after the lapse of centuries the educator of 
mankind, living in the grandeur of her works and in the 
33* 



390 APPENDIX. 

immortal productions of minds which modern civilization, 
with all its cultivation and refinement and science, never 
surpassed and scarcely equalled. And why, in the three 
hundred years of American history, it should be given to 
the Old Dominion to be the grandmother, not only of 
States, but of the men by whom States and empires are 
formed, it might be curious, were it possible for us, to 
inquire. Unquestionably, Mr. President, there is in this 
problem the element of race ; for he is blind to all the 
truths of history, to all the revelations of the past, who 
does not recognize a select race as we recognize a select 
individual of a race, to make all history. But pretermit- 
ting all speculation of that sort, when Virginia unfolds 
the scroll of her immortal sons — not because illustrious 
men did not precede him gathering in constellations and 
clusters, but because the name shines out through those 
constellations and clusters in all its peerless grandeur — ■ 
we read first the name of George Washington. And then, 
Mr. President, after the interval of three-quarters of a 
century, when your jealous eye has ranged down the 
record and traced the names that history will never let 
die, you come to the name — the only name in all the 
annals of history that can be named in the perilous 
connection — of Robert E. Lee, the second Washington. 
Well may old Virginia be proud of her twin sons ! born 
almost a century apart, but shining like those binary stars 
which open their glory and shed their splendor on the 
darkness of the world. 

" Sir, it is not an artifice of rhetoric which suggests this 
parallel between two great names in American history ; 
for the suggestion springs spontaneously to every mind, 
and men scarcely speak of Lee without thinking of a 
mysterious connection that binds the two together. They 



APPENDIX. 391 

were alike in the presage of their early history — the 
history of their boyhood. Both earnest, grave, studious ; 
both alike in that peculiar purity which belongs only to a 
noble boy, and which makes him a brave and noble man, 
filling the page of a history spotless until closed in death ; 
alike in that commanding presence which seems to be the 
signature of Heaven, sometimes placed on a great soul 
when to that soul is given a fit dwelling-place ; alike in 
that noble carriage and commanding dignity, exercising 
a mesmeric influence and a hidden power which could 
not be repressed upon all who came within its charm ; 
alike in the remarkable combination and symmetry of 
their intellectual attributes, all brought up to the same 
equal level, no faculty of the mind overlapping any 
other — all so equal, so well developed, the judgment, the 
reason, the memory, the fancy, that you are almost dis- 
posed to deny them greatness, because no single attribute 
of the mind was projected upon itself, just as objects 
appear sometimes smaller to the eye from the exact sym- 
metry and beauty of their proportions ; alike, above all, 
in that soul-greatness, that Christian virtue to which so 
beautiful a tribute has been paid by my friend whose 
high privilege it was to be a compeer and comrade with 
the immortal dead, although in another department and 
sphere; and yet, Mr. President, in their external for- 
tune so strangely dissimilar — the one the representative 
and the agent of a stupendous revolution, which it pleased 
Heaven to bless, and thereby give birth to one of the 
mightiest nations on the globe ; the other the representa- 
tive and agent of a similar revolution, upon which it 
pleased high Heaven to throw the darkness of its frown ; 
so that, bearing upon his generous heart the weight of 
this crushed cause, he was at length overwhelmed ; and 



392 APPENDIX. 

the nation, whom lie led in battle, gathers with sponta- 
neity of grief over all this land, which is ploughed with 
graves and reddened with blood, and the tears of a 
widowed nation in her bereavement are shed over his 

honored grave 

" A brilliant English writer has well remarked, with a 
touch of sound philosophy, that when a nation has rushed 
upon its fate, the Vv'hole force of the national life will 
sometimes shoot up in one grand character, like the aloe, 
which blooms at the end of a hundred years, shoots up in 
one single spike of glory, and then expires. And where- 
ever philosophy, refinement, and culture, have gone upon 
the globe, it is possible to place the finger upon individual 
men who are the exemplars of a nation's character, those 
typical forms under which others less noble, less expanded, 
have manifested themselves. That gentle, that perfect 
moderation, that self-command which enabled him to be 
so self-possessed amid the most trying difiiculties of his 
public career, a refinement almost such as that which 
marks the character of the purest woman, were blended 
in him with that massive strength, that mighty endurance, 
'that consistency and power which gave him and the 
people whom he led such momentum under the disadvan- 
tages of the struggle through which he passed. Born 
from the general level of American society, blood of a 
noble ancestry flowed in his veins, and he was a type of 
the race from which he sprang. Such v/as the grandeur 
and urbaneness of his manner, the dignity and majesty 
of his carriage, that his only peer in social life could be 
found in courts and among those educated amid the re- 
finements of courts and thrones. In that regard it was 
beautiful and appropriate that he should become, in the 
later years of his life, the educator of the young. Sir, it 



APPENDIX. 393 

is a cause for mourning before high Heaven to-niglit that 
he was not spared thirty years to educate a generation for 
the time that is to come ; for, as in the days when the red 
banner streamed over the land, the South sent her sons to 
fight under his flag and beneath the wave of his sword, so 
these sous have been sent again to sit at his feet when he 
was the disciple of the Muses and the teacher of philoso- 
phy. Oh, that he might have brought his more than 
regal character, his majestic fame, all his intellectual and 
moral endowments, to the task of fitting those that should 
come in the crisis of the future to take the mantle that had 
fallen from his shoulders and bear it to the generations 
that are unborn ! 

" General Lee I accept as the representative of his 
people, and of the temper with which this whole South- 
land entered into that gigantic, that prolonged, and that 
disastrous struggle which has closed, but closed as to us 
in grief. 

*' And I accept this noble chieftain equally as the re- 
presentative of this Southland in the spirit of his retire- 
ment from struggle. It could not escape any speaker 
upon this platform to allude to the dignity of that retire- 
ment ; how, from the moment he surrendered, he withdrew 
from observation, holding aloof from all political compli- 
cations, and devoting his entire energies to the great work 
he had undertaken to discharge. In this he represents 
the true attitude of the South since the close of the war 
— an attitude of quiet submission to the conquering 
. power and of obedience to all exactions ; but without re- 
siling from those great principles which were embalmed 
in the struggle, and which, as the convictions of a lifetime, 
no honest mind could release. 

" All over this land of ours there are men like Lee — 



394 APPENDIX. 

uot as great, not as symmetrical in the development of 
character, not as grand in the proportions which they have 
reached, but who, like him, are sleeping upon memories 
that are holy as death, and who, amid all reproach, ap- 
peal to the future, and to the tribunal of History, when 
she shall render her final verdict in reference to the 
struggle closed, for the vindication of the people em- 
barked in that struggle. We are silent, resigned, obe- 
dient, and thoughtful, sleeping upon solemn memories, 
Mr. President ; but, as said by the poet-preacher in the 
Good Book, ' I sleep, but my heart waketh,' looking upon 
the future that is to come, and powerless in everything ex- 
cept to pray to Almighty God, who rules the destinies of 
nations, that those wdio have the power may at least have 
the grace given them to preserve the constitutional prin- 
ciples which we have endeavored to maintain. And, sir, 
were it my privilege to speak in the hearing of the entire 
nation, I would utter with the profoundest emphasis this 
pregnant truth: that no people ever traversed those moral 
ideas which underlie its character, its constitution, its in- 
stitutions, and its laws, that did not in the end perish in 
disaster, in shame, and in dishonor. Whatever be the 
glory, the material civilization, of Avhich such a nation 
may boast, it still holds true that the truth is immortal, 

and that ideas rule the world 

" Sir, there is a unity in the grapes when they grow to- 
gether in the clusters upon the vine, and holding the 
bunch in your hand, you speak of it as one ; but there is 
another unity, when you throw these grapes into the 
wine-press, and the feet of those that bruise these grapes 
trample them almost profanely beneath their feet to- 
gether in the communion of pure wine. And such is the 
union and communion of hearts that have been fused by 



APPENDIX. 395 

tribulation and sorrow, and that meet together in the true 
feeling of an honest grief to express the homage of their 
affection, as well as to render a tribute of praise to him 
upon whose face we shall never look until on tliat immor- 
tal day when we shall behold it transfigured before the 
throne of God." 

Atlanta, Georgia, October 15ik. 

GENERAL JOHN B. GORDON. 

" My Friends : We have met to weep — to mingle our 
tears, and give vent to our bursting hearts. The sorrow- 
ing South, already clad in mourners' weeds, bows her 
head afresh to-day in a heart-stricken orphanage; and if 
I could have been permitted to indulge the sensibilities 
of my heart, I would have fled this most honorable task, 
and in solitude and silence have wept the loss of the great 
and good man whose death we so deplore. . . . Grandly 
majestic and dignified in all his deportment, he was 
genial as the sunlight of this beautiful day, and not a ray 
of that cordial, social intercourse, but brought warmth to 
the heart, as it did light to the understanding. 

" But as one of the great captains will General Lee 
first pass review and inspection before the criticism of 
history. We will not compare him with Washington. 
The mind will halt instinctively at the comparison of 
two such men, so equally and gloriously great. But with 
modest, yet calm and unflinching confidence, we place 
him by the side of the Marlboroughs and Wellingtons, 
who take high niches in the pantheon of immortality. 
Let us dwell for a moment, my friends, on this thought. 
Marlborough never met defeat, it is true. Victory marked 
every step of his triumphant march ; but when, where, 
and whom did Marlborough fight? The ambitious and 



396 APPENDIX. 

vain, but able Louis XIV/ But he had already exhausted 
the resources of his kingdom before Marlborough stepped 
upon the stage. The great marshals, Turenne and Conde, 
were no more, and Luxembourg the beloved had vanished 
from the scene, Marlborough, pre-eminently great as he 
certainly was, nevertheless led the combined forces of 
England and of Holland, in the freshness of their strength 
and the fulness of their financial ability, against prostrate 
France, with a treasury depleted, a people worn out, dis- 
couraged, and dejected. But let us turn to another com- 
parison. The great Von Moltke, who now rides upon the 
whirlwind and commands the storm of Prussian invasion, 
has recently declared that General Lee, in all respects, 
was fully the equal of Wellington ; and you may the bet- 
ter appreciate this admission when you remember that 
Wellington was the benefactor of Prussia, and probably 
Von Moltke's special idol. But let us examine the 
arguments ourselves. France was already prostrate when 
Wellington met Napoleon. That great emperor had 
seemed to make war upon the very elements themselves, 
to have contended with Nature, and to have almost de- 
feated Providence itself. The enemies of the North, 
more savage than Goth or Vandal, mounting the swift 
gales of a Russian winter, had carried death, desolation, 
and ruin to the very gates of Paris. Wellington fought 
at Waterloo a bleeding and broken nation — a nation 
electrified, it is true, to almost superhuman energy by the 
genius of Napoleon, but a nation prostrate and bleeding 
nevertheless. Compare this, my friends, the condition of 
France and the condition of the United States, in the 
freshness of her strength, in the luxuriance of her re- 
sources, in the lustihood of her gigantic youth. Tell me 
whether to place the chaplet of military superiority with 



APPENDIX. 397 

him, or with Marlborough, or Wellington? Even the 
greatest of captains, in his Italian campaigns, flashing 
fame in lightning splendor over the world, even Bona- 
parte met and crushed in battle but three or four (I 
think) Austrian armies; while our Lee, with one army 
badly equipped, in time incredibly short, met and hurled 
back in broken and shattered fiagments live of the best 
prepared and most magnificently appointed invasions. 
Yea, more ! He discrowned, in rapid succession, one after 
another of the United States' most accomplished and ad- 
mirable commanders. 

" Lee was never really defeated. Lee could not be de- 
feated ! Overpowered, foiled in his eftbrts, he might be ; 
but never defeated until the props v/hich supported him 
gave way. Never, until the platform sank beneath him, 
did any enemy ever dare pursue. On that melancholy 
occasion, the downfall of the Confederacy, no Leipsic, no 
Waterloo, no Sedan, can ever be recorded. 

"General Lee is known to the world as a military 
man ; but it is easy to divine from his history how mind- 
ful of all just authority, how observant of all constitu- 
tional restriction, would have been his career as a civilian. 
When, near the conclusion of the war, darkness was 
thickening about the falling fortunes of the Confederacy, 
when its very life was in the sword of Lee, it was my 
proud privilege to know with a special admiration the 
modest demeanor, the manly decorum, the respectful hom- 
age, which marked all his dealings with the constituted au- 
thorities of his country. Clothed with all power, he hid 
its very symbol behind a genial modesty, and refused ever 
to exert it save in obedience to law. And even in his 
triumphant entry into the territory of the enemy, so re- 
gardful was he of civilized warfare, that the observance 
34 



398 APPENDIX. 

of Ins general orders as to private property and private 
rights left the line of his march marked and marred by 
no devastated fields, charred ruins, or desolated homes. 
But it is his private character, or rather I should say his 
personal emotion and virtue, which his countrymen will 
most delight to consider and dwell upon. His magna- 
nimity, transcending all historic precedent, seemed to 
form a new chapter in the book of humanity. Witness 
that letter to Jackson, after his wounds at Chancellors- 
viile, in which he said: 'I am praying for you with more 
fervor than I ever prayed for myself.' And that other, 
more disinterested and pathetic : ' I could, for the good 
of my country, wish that the wounds which you have 
received had been inflicted upon my own body.' Or that 
of the latter message, saying to General Jackson that 
' his wounds were not so severe as mine, for he loses but 
his left arm, while I, in his loss, lose my right." Or that 
other expression of unequalled magnanimity which en- 
abled him to ascribe the glory of 'their joint victory to the 
sole credit of the dying hero. Did I say unequalled? 
Yes, that was an avowal of unequalled magnanimity, 
until it met its parallel in his own grander self-negation 
at Gettysburg. Aye, my countrymen, Alexander had his 
Arbela, Caesar his Pharsalia, Napoleon his Austerlitz ; 
but it was reserved for Lee to grow grander and more 
illustrious in defeat than even in victory — grander, be- 
cause in defeat he showed a spirit greater than in the 
heroism of battles, or all the achievements of war — a 
spirit which crowns him with a chaplet grander far than 
ever mighty conqueror wore. 

" I turn me now to that last closing scene at Appomat- 
tox, and I will draw thence a picture of that man as he 
laid aside the sword, the unrivalled soldier, to become the 
most exemplary of citizens. 



APPENDIX. 399 

" I can never forget the deferential homage j^aid this 
great citizen by even the Federal soldiers, as with un- 
covered heads they contemplated, in mute admiration, 
this now captive hero, as he rode through the ranks. 
Impressed forever, daguerreotyped on my heart is that 
last parting scene with that handful of heroes still crowd- 
ing around him. Few indeed were the words then 
spoken, but the quivering lip and the tearful eye told of 
the love they bore him, in symphonies more eloquent than 
any language can describe. Can I ever forget? No, 
never can I forget- the words which fell from his lips as I 
rode beside him amid the defeated, dejected, and w^eeping 
soldiery, when, turning to me, he said : ' I could wish that 
I was numbered among the fallen in the last battle.' But 
oh ! as he thought of the loss of the cause — of the many 
dead scattered over so many fields, who, sleeping neg- 
lected, with no governmental arms to gather up their re- 
mains — sleeping neglected, isolated, and alone, beneath 
the weeping stars, with naught but their soldiers' blankets 
about them ! — oh ! as these emotions swept over his great 
soul, he felt that he would have laid him down to rest in 
the same grave where lay buried the common hope of his 
jDeople. But Providence willed it otherwise. He rests 
now forever, my countrymen, his spirit in the bosom of 
that Father whom he so faithfully served, his body beside 
the river whose banks are forever memorable, and whose 
waters are vocal with the glories of his triumphs. No 
sound shall ever wake him to martial glory again ; no 
more shall he lead his invincible lines to victory ; no 
more shall w'e gaze upon him and draw from his quiet 
demeanor lessons of life. But oh ! it is a sw^eet consola- 
tion to us, my countrymen, who loved him, that no more 
shall his bright S2:)irit be bowed down to earth with the 



400 APPENDIX. 

burdens of the people's wrongs. It is sweet consolation 
to us that his last victory, through faith in his crucified 
Eedeemer, is the most transcendently glorious of all his 
triumphs. At this very hour, while we mourn here, kind 
friends are consigning the last that remains of our hero 
to his quiet sleeping-place, surrounded by the mountains 
of his native State — mountains, the autumnal glory of 
whose magnificent forests to-day seem but habiliments of 
mourning. In the valley, the pearly dew-drops seem but 
tears of sadness upon the grasses and flowers. Let him 
rest ! And now as he has gone from us, and as we re- 
gard him in all the aspects of his career and character and 
attainments as a great captain, ranking among the first 
of any age : as a patriot, whose sacrificing devotion to his 
country ranks him with Washington ; as a Christian, like 
Havelock, recognizing his duty to his God above every 
other earthly consideration, with a native modesty that re- 
fused to appropriate the glory of his own achievements, and 
which surrounds now his entire character and career with 
a halo of unfading light ; with an integrity of life and a 
sacred regard for truth which no man dare assail ; with a 
fidelity to principle wdiich no misfortune could shake — 
he must ever stand peerless among men in the estimation 
of Christendom, this representative son of the South, 
Eobert E. Lee, of Virginia." 

AiJGiJSTA, Geokgia. 

At a meeting held in this city, October 18th, the fol- 
lowing resolutions were adopted. They form in them- 
selves a noble tribute to the departed greatness they so 
eloquently set forth : 

"Whereas, This day, throughout all this Southern 
land, sorrow, many-tongued, is ascending to heaven for the 



APPENDIX. 401 

death of Robert E. Lee, and comniiinities everywhere are 
honoring themselves in striving to do honor to that great 
name ; and we, the people of Augusta, who were not lag- 
gards in upholding his glorious banner while it floated to 
the breeze, would swell the general lamentation of his 
departure ; therefore be it 

" Resolved, That no people in the tide of time has been 
bereaved as we are bereaved ; for no other people has 
had such a man to lose. Greece, rich in heroes ; Kome, 
prolific mother of great citizens, — so that the name of 
Koman is the synonym of all that is noblest in citizenship 
— had no man coming up to the full measure of this great 
departed. On scores of battle-fields, consummate com- 
mander ; everywhere, bravest soldier ; in failure, sublimest 
hero ; in disbanding his army, most pathetic of writers ; 
in persecution, most patient of power's victims ; in private 
life, purest of men — he was such that all Christendom, 
with one consent, named him great. We, recalling that 
so also mankind have styled Alexander, Cassar, Frederick, 
and Napoleon, and beholding in the Confederate leader 
qualities higher and better than theirs, find that language 
poor indeed which only enables us to call him 'great' — 
him standing among the great of all ages pre-eminent. 

" Resolved, That our admiration of the man is not the 
partial judgment of his adherents only ; but so clear 
stand his greatness and his goodness, that even the bit- 
terest of foes has not ventured to asperse him. While 
the air has been filled with calumnies and revilings of 
his cause, none have been aimed at him. If there are 
spirits so base that they cannot discover and reverence 
his greatness and his goodness, they have at least shrunk 
from encountering the certain indignation of mankind. 
This day — disfranchised by stupid power as he was; 
34 * 2 A 



402 APPENDIX. 

branded, as he was, in the perverted vocabulary of usurp- 
ers as rebel and traitor — his death has even in distant 
lands moved more tongues and stirred more hearts than 
the siege of a mighty city and the triumphs of a great 
king. 

^'Resolved, That, while he died far too soon for his 
country, he had lived long enough for his fame. This 
was complete, and the future could unfold nothing to add 
to it. In this age of startling changes, imagination might 
have pictured him, even in the years which he yet lacked 
of the allotted period of human life, once more at the 
head of devoted armies and the conqueror of glorious 
fields ; but none could have been more glorious than 
those he had already won. Wrong, too, might again 
have triumphed over Right, and he have borne defeat 
with sublimest resignation ; but this he had already done 
at Appomattox. Unrelenting hate to his lost cause might 
have again consigned him to the walks of private life, 
and he have become an exemplar of all the virtues of a 
private station ; but this he had already been in the shades 
of Lexington. The contingencies of the future could 
only have revealed him greatest soldier, sublimest hero, 
best of men ; and he was already all of these. The years 
to come were barren of anything which could add to his 
perfect name and fame. He had nothing to lose ; but, 
alas ! we, his people, everything by his departure from 
this world, which was unworthy of him, to that other 
where the good and the pure of all ages will welcome him. 
Thither follow him the undying love of every true South- 
ern man and woman, and the admiration of all the 
world." 



APPENDIX. 403 

Columbia, South Carolina. 

GENERAL WADE HAMPTON. 

" Fellow-Citizens : — We are called together to-day 
by an announcement which will cause profound sorrow 
throughout the civilized world, and which comes to us 
bearing the additional grief of a personal and private be- 
reavement. The foremost man in all the world is no 
more ; and, as that news is carried by the speed of light- 
ning through every town, village, and hamlet of this land 
he loved so well, and among those people who loved, hon- 
ored and venerated him so profoundly, every true heart 
in the stricken South will feel that the country has lost 
its pride and glory, and that the citizens of that country 
have lost a father. I dare not venture to speak of him 
as I feel. Nor do we come to eulogize him. Not only 
wherever the English language is spoken, but wherever 
civilization extends, the sorrow — a part at least of the 
sorrow — we feel will be felt, and more eloquent tongues 
than mine will tell the fame and recount the virtues of 
Robert E. Lee. We need not come to praise him. We 
come only to express our sympathy, our grief, our be- 
reavement. We come not to mourn him, for we know 
that it is well with him. We come only to extend our 
sympathy to those who are bereaved. 

" Now that he is fallen, I may mention what I have 
never spoken of before, to show you not only what were 
the feelings that actuated him in the duty to which his 
beloved countrymen called him, but what noble senti- 
ments inspired him when he saw the cause for which he 
had been fighting so long, about to perish. 

"Just before the surrender, after a night devoted to 
the most arduous duties, as one of his staff came in to 
see him in the morning, he found him worn and weary 



404 APPENDIX. 

and disheartened, and the general said to him, 'How 
easily I could get rid of this and be at rest ! I have only 
to ride along the line, and all will be over. But,' — and 
then there spoke the Christian patriot — 'it is our duty 
to live, for what will become of the women and children 
of the South if we are not here to protect them ? ' That 
same spirit of duty which had actuated him through all 
the perils and all the hardships of that unequalled con- 
flict which he had waged so heroically, that same high 
spirit of duty told him that he must live to show that he 
was great — greater, if that were possible, in peace than 
in war ; live to teach the people whom he had before led 
to victory how to bear defeat ; live to show what a great 
and good man can accomplish ; live to set an example to 
his people for all time ; live to bear, if nothing else, his 
share of the sorrows, and the afilictions, and the troubles, 
which had come upon his people. He is now at rest ; 
and surely we of the South can say of him, as we say of 
his great exemplar, 'the Father of his Country,' that 'he 
was first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of 
his countrymen.'" 

At a meeting held in Baltimore, later in October, to 
form a Lee Monument Association, the following address 
was made by 

HON. REVERDY JOHNSON. 

" Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : — I am here in 
compliance with the request of many gentlemen present, 
and I not only willingly comply with that request, but I 
am willing to do all I am able to show my appreciation 
of the character, civil and military, of Robert E. Lee. 
It was my good fortune to know him before the Mexican 
war, in those better days before the commencement of 



APPENDIX. 405 

the sad struggle through which we have recently passed. 
I saw in him everything that could command the respect 
and admiration of men, and I watched with peculiar in- 
terest his course in the Mexican war. It was also my 
good fortune to know the late Lieutenant-General Scott. 
In the commencement of the struggle to which I have 
alluded, I occupied in Washington the position of quasi 
military adviser to him, and was, in that capacity, inti- 
mately associated with him. I have often heard him de- 
clare that the glorious and continued success which 
crowned our arms in the war with Mexico was owing, in 
a large measure, to the skill, valor, and undaunted cour- 
age of Robert E. Lee. He entertained for him the 
warmest personal friendship, and it was his purpose to 
recommend him as his successor in the event of his death 
or inability to perform the duties of his high position. 
In April, 1861, after the commencement of hostilities be- 
tween the two great sections of our country. General Lee, 
then lieutenant -colonel of cavalry in the army of the 
United States, offered his resignation. I was with General 
Scott when he was handed the letter of resignation, and I 
saw what pain the fact caused him. While he regretted 
the step his most valuable officer had taken, he never 
failed to say emphatically, and over and over again, that 
he believed he had taken it from an wi2:)€rative sense of 
duty. He was also consoled by the belief that if he was 
placed at the head of the armies of the then Confedera- 
tion, he would have in him a foeman in every way worthy 
of him, and one who w^ould conduct the w^ar upon the 
highest principles of civilized warfare, and that he would 
not suffer encroachments to be made upon the rights of 
private property and the rights of unoffending citizens. 
"Some may be surprised that I am here to eulogize 



406 APPENDIX. 

Kobert E. Lee. It is well known that I did not agree 
with him in his political views. At the beginning of the 
late war, and for many years preceding it, even from the 
foundation of this government, two great questions agi- 
tated the greatest minds of this country. Many believed 
that the allegiance of the citizen was due first to his State, 
and many were of the opinion that, according to the true 
reading of the Constitution, a State had no right to leave 
the Union and claim sovereign rights and perpetual alle- 
giance of her citizens. I did not agree in the first-named 
opinion, but I knew it was honestly entertained. I knew 
men of the purest character, of the highest ability, and 
of the most liberal and patriotic feelings who conscien- 
tiously believed it. 

" Now the war is over, thank God ! and in that thank- 
fulness I am sure this meeting will unite. It is the duty 
of every citizen of this land to seek to heal the wounds of 
the war, to forget past diflferences and to forgive as far as 
possible the faults to which the war gave rise. In no 
other way can the Union be truly and permanently re- 
stored. We are now together as a band of brothers. 
The soldiers of the Confederacy, headed by the great 
chief we now mourn, have expressed their willingness to 
abide by the issue of the contest. What a spectacle to 
the world! After years of military devastation, with tens 
of thousands dead on her battle-fields, with the flower of 
her children slain, with her wealth destroyed, her com- 
merce swept away, her agriculture and mechanical pur- 
suits almost ruined, the South yielded. The North, vic- 
torious and strong, could not forget what she owed to 
liberty and human rights. We may well swear now that 
as long as liberty is virtuous we will be brothers. 

" Kobert E. Lee is worthy of all praise. As a man, he 



APPENDIX. 407 

was peerless; as a soldier, he had no equal and no supe- 
rior ; as a humane and Christian soldier, he towers hig-h 
in the political horizon. 

"You cannot imagine with what delight, when 1 had 
the honor to represent this country at the Court of Great 
Britain, I heard the praises of his fame and character 
which came from soldiers and statesmen. I need not 
speak of the comparative merits of General Lee, and the 
Union generals who opposed him; this is not the place or 
time for a discussion of their respective successes and de- 
feats ; but I may say that, as far as I was able to judge 
of the sentiments of the military men of Great Britain, 
they thought none of the Union officers superior to Gene- 
ral Kobert E. Lee. Their admiration for him was not 
only on account of his skill on the battle-field, and the 
skilful manner with which he planned and executed his 
campaigns, but the humane manner in which he performed 
his sad duty. They alluded specially to his conduct when 
invading the territory of his enemy — his restraint upon 
his men, telling them that the honor of the army de- 
pended upon the manner of conducting the war in the 
enemy's country — and his refusal to resort to retaliatory 
measures. I know that great influences were brought to 
bear upon him, when he invaded Pennsylvania, to induce 
him to consent to extreme measures. His answer, how- 
ever, was : ' No ; if I suffer ray army to pursue the course 
recommended, I cannot invoke the blessing of God upon 
my arms.' He would not allow his troops to destroy 
private property or to violate the rights of the citizen. 
When the necessities of his army compelled the taking 
of commissary stores by his orders, his officers paid for 
them in Confederate money at their then valuation. No 
burning homesteads illumined his march — no shivering 



408 APPENDIX. 

and helpless children were turned out of their homes to 
witness their destruction by the torch. With him all the 
rules of civilized war, having the higher sanction of God, 
were strictly observed. The manly fortitude with which 
he yielded at Appomattox to three times his numbers 
showed that he was worthy of the honors and the fame 
the South had given him. This is not the first time since 
the termination of the war I have expressed admiration 
and friendship for Robert E. Lee. When I heard that 
he was about to be prosecuted in a Virginia Court for the 
alleged crime of treason, I wrote to him at once, and 
with all my heart, that if he believed I could be of any 
service to him, professionally, I was at his command. 
All the ability I possess, increased by more than fifty 
years of study and experience, would have been cheerfully 
exerted to have saved him, for in saving him I believe I 
would have been saving the honor of my country. I re- 
ceived a characteristic reply in terms of friendship and 
grateful thanks. He wrote that he did not think the 
prosecution would take place. Hearing, however, some 
time after, that the prosecution would commence at Rich- 
mond, I went at once to that city and saw his legal ad- 
viser, Hon. William H. McFarland, one of the ablest 
men of the bar of Virginia. Mr. McFarland showed 
me a copy of a letter from General Lee to General 
Grant, enclosing an application for a pardon, which he 
desired General Grant to present to the President, 
but telling him not to present it if any steps had been 
taken for his prosecution, as he was willing to stand the 
test. He wrote that he had understood by the terms of 
surrender at Appomattox, that he and all his officers and 
men were to be protected. That letter, I am glad to say, 
raised General Lee higher in my esteem. General Grant 



APPENDIX. 409 

at once replied, and he showed his reply to me. He wrote 
that he had seen the President, and protested against any 
steps being taken against General Lee, and had informed 
him that he considered his honor and the honor of the 
nation pledged to him. 

" The President became satisfied, and no proceedings 
were ever taken. General Grant transmitted to the 
President the application of General Lee for pardon, in- 
dorsed with his most earnest approval. No pardon was 
granted. He did not need it here, and when he appears 
before that great tribunal before which we must all be 
called, he will find he has no account to settle there. No 
soldier who followed General Lee could have felt more grief 
and sympathy at his grave than I would, could I have been 
present upon the mournful occasion of his burial. I la- 
mented his death as a private loss, and still more as a public 
loss. I knew that his example would continue to allay 
the passions aroused by the war, and which I was not sur- 
prised were excited by some acts in that war. I love my 
country ; I am jealous of her honor. I cherish her good 
name, and I am proud of the land of my birth. I forbear 
to criticise the lives of her high officers and servants, but 
I can say with truth that, during the late war, the laws 
of humanity were forgotten and the higher orders of God 
were trodden under foot. 

" The resolutions need no support which human lips can 
by human language give. Their subject is their support. 
The name of Lee appeals at once, and strongly, to every 
true heart in this land, and throughout the world. Let 
political partisans, influenced by fanaticism and the hope 
of political plunder, find fault with and condemn us. 
They will be forgotten, when the name of Lee will be 
resplendent with immortal glory. 



410 APPENDIX. 

''Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, in the course of nature 
my career upon earth must soon terminate. God grant 
that when the day of my death comes, I may look up to 
heaven with that confidence and faith which the life and 
character of Robert E. Lee gave him. He died trusting 
in. God as a good man, with a good life and a pure con- 
science. He was consoled with the knowledge that the 
religion of Christ had ordered all his ways, and he knew 
that the verdict of God upon the account he would have 
to render in Heaven would be one of jud^ent, seasoned 
with mercy. He had a right to believe that when God 
passed judgment upon the account of his life, though He 
would find him an erring human being, He would find 
virtue enough and religious faith enough to save him 
from any other verdict, than that of ' well done good and 
faithful servant.' 

" The monument will be raised, and when it is raised, 
many a man will visit Richmond to stand beside it, to do 
reverence to the remains it may cover, and to say, 'Here 
lie the remains of one of the noblest men wdio ever lived 
or died in America.' " 

REMARKS OF HON. GEO. W^M. BROW^N. 

At the conclusion of Mr. Johnson's address, Hon. Geo. 
Wm. Brown said : 

"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : — The able and 
eloquent gentlemen who have preceded me, have left but 
little for me to say. I rise, however, to express my hearty 
assent to the resolutions. Their broad and liberal views 
are worthy of the great and good man whose virtues and 
fame we seek to commemorate. He has passed away from 
earth, and our blame or censure are nothing to him now. 
The most eloquent eulogies that human lips can utter, and 



APPENDIX. 411 

the loftiest monuments that human hands can buihl, cannot 
affect him now. But it is a satisfaction to us to know 
that expressions of the love for him which lives in every 
Southern heart — aye, in many a Northern heart — were 
heard long before his death, and that honor shed noble 
lustre around the last years of his life. He was the rep- 
resentative of a lost cause ; he had sheathed his sword for- 
ever ; he had surrendered his army to superior numbers ; 
he was broken in fortune and in health, and was only 
president of a Virginia college, yet he was one of the 
foremost men of all the world. It has been said of General 
Lee, as it has been said of Washington, that he was defi- 
cient in genius. His character was so complete, that what 
would have seemed evidence of genius with other men, 
was lost in the combination of his character and mind. 
He was always, and especially in every great crisis, a 
leader among men. During the four years of his educa- 
tion at West Point, he did not receive a single reprimand. 
As a cavalry officer, wherever he went, he was a marked 
man, and when General Scott made his wonderful march 
to the capital of Mexico, Captain Lee was his right arm. 
At the commencement of the late war, though only a 
lieutenant-colonel of cavalry, he was offered the command 
of the armies of the United States. What a prize for 
ambition ! Fortune, fame, and honors awaited him ! 
Where would he have been to-day? Probably in the 
Presidential chair of this great nation. But he rejected 
all to take his chance with his own people, and to unite 
with them in their resistance to the vast numbers and 
resources whicli he knew the North was able to bring 
against them. There is nothing more remarkable in the 
annals of warfare than the success with which General 
Lee defeated for years the armies of the United States. 
Consider the six days' battles around Richmond; the 



412 APPENDIX. 

second battle of Manassas ; the battles at Antietara, 
Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg ; the wonderful contest 
at Chancellorsville ; then, again, the remarkable battle 
of the Wilderness, in which it has been said by Federal 
authority that General Lee actually killed as many men 
as he had under his command ; the defence of Cold Har- 
bor; the prolonged defence of Richmond and Petersburg, 
and the admirably conducted retreat with but a handful 
before an immense army. Well has he been spoken of as 
* the incomparable strategist.' Did any man ever fight 
against more desperate odds or resources? But not merely 
as a great general is General Lee to be admired. He 
claims our admiration as a great man — great in ad- 
versity. I think there is nothing more admirable in all 
his life than his conduct in assuming the sole responsi- 
bility at Gettysburg. In the midst of defeat, Lee was 
calm, unmoved, showing no fear where despair would 
have been in the heart of any other general, and saying 
to his officers and men, ' The fault is all mine.' 

" Let the monument be raised not merely by soldiers 
of General Lee, but by all men, no matter of what poli- 
tical feelings, who appreciate and honor that which is 
manly, great, and patriotic. The monument at Richmond 
will be the reaort of pilgrims from the North as well as 
from the South, and the grave of Lee will be second only, 
in the hearts of the people, to the grave of Washington." 

EiCHMOND, Virginia. 
At a Memorial Meeting held here, November 3d, Hon. 
Jefferson Davis addressed the Assembly. 

REMARKS OF PRESIDENT DAVIS. 

The Dispatch says : As Mr. Davis arose to walk to the 
stand, every person in the house rose to his feet ; and there 



APPENDIX. 413 

followed sucli a storm of applause as seemed to shake the 
very foundations of the building, while cheer upon cheer 
was echoed from the throats of veterans saluting one whom 
they delighted to honor. 

Mr. Davis spoke at length, and with his accustomed, 
thrilling, moving eloquence. We shall not attempt, at 
the late hour at which we write, to give a full report of 
his address. 

He addressed his hearers as : " Soldiers and sailors of 
the Confederacy, comrades and friends : 

"Assembled on this sad occasion, with hearts op- 
pressed with the grief that follows the loss of him who 
was our leader on many a bloody battle-field, a pleasing, 
though melancholy spectacle, is presented. Hitherto, 
and in all times, men have been honored when successful ; 
but here is the case of one who, amid disasters, went down 
to his grave, and those who were his companions in mis- 
fortune have assembled to honor his memory. It is as 
much an honor to you who give, as to him who receives ; 
for, above the vulgar test of merit, you show yourselves 
competent to discriminate between him who enjoys and 
him who deserves success. 

"Kobert E. Lee was my associate and friend in the 
military academy, and we w^ere friends until the hour of 
his death. We were associates and friends when he was 
a soldier and I a congressman ; and associates and friends 
when he led the armies of the Confederacy, and I presided 
in its Cabinet. We passed through many sad scenes to- 
gether, but I cannot remember that there was ever aught 
but perfect harmony between us. If ever there was dif- 
ference of opinion, it was dissipated by discussion, and 
harmony w^as the result. I repeat, we never disagreed, 
and I may add that I never in my life saw in him the 



414 APPENDIX. 

slightest tendency to self-seeking. It was not his to make 
a record, it was not his to shift blame to other shoulders ; 
but it was his with an eye fixed upon the welfare of his 
country, never faltering to follow the line of duty to the 
end. His w^as the heart that braved every difficulty ; his 
was the mind that wrought victory out of defeat. 

" He has been charged with ' want of dash.' I w^ish to 
say that I never knew Lee to hesitate to attempt anything 
ever man could dare. An attempt also has been made 
to throw a cloud upon his character, because he left the 
army of the United States to join in the struggle for the 
liberty of his State. Without trenching at all upon 
politics, I deem it my duty to say one word in reference 
to this charge. Virginian born, descended from a fam- 
ily illustrious in Virginia's annals, given by Virginia 
to the service of the United States, he represented her 
in the Military Academy at West Point. He w^as not 
educated by the Federal Government, but by Virginia ; 
for she paid her full share for the support of that institu- 
tion, and was entitled to demand in return the services 
of her sons. Entering the army of the United States, he 
represented Virginia there also, and nobly. On many a 
hard-fought field Lee w^as conspicuous, battling for his 
native State as much as for the Union. He came from 
Mexico crowned with honors, covered by brevets, and 
recognized, young as he was, as one of the ablest of his 
country's soldiers. And to prove that he was estimated 
then as such, let me tell you that when Lee was a captain 
of engineers, stationed in Baltimore, the Cuban Junta in 
New York selected him to be their leader in the struggle 
for the independence of their native country. They were 
anxious to secure his services, and offered him every 
temptation that ambition could desire. He thought the 



APPENDIX. 415 

matter over, and, I remember, came to Washington to 
consult me as to what he should do ; and when I began to 
discuss the complications which might arise from his ac- 
ceptance of the trust, he gently rebuked me, saying that 
this was not the line upon which he wished my advice — 
the simple question was, 'Whether it was right or not?' 
He had been educated by the United States, and felt it 
wrong to accept a place in the army of a foreign power. 
Such was his extreme delicacy, such was the nice sense 
of honor of the gallant gentleman whose death we de- 
plore. But when Virginia withdrew — the State to whom 
he owed his first and last allegiance — the same nice 
sense of honor led him to draw his sword, and throw it in 
the scale for good or for evil. Pardon me for this brief 
defence of my illustrious friend. 

" When Virginia joined the Confederacy, Robert Lee, 
the highest officer in the little army of Virginia, came to 
Richmond, and not pausing to inquire what would be his 
rank in the service of the Confederacy, went to Western 
Virginia under the belief that he was still an officer of 
the State. He came back, carrying the heavy weight of 
defeat, and unappreciated by the people whom he served, 
for they could not know, as I knew, that if his plans and 
orders had been carried out, the result would have been 
victory rather than retreat. You did not know it ; for I 
would not have known it, had he not breathed it in my 
ear only at my earnest request, and begging that nothing 
be said about it. The clamor which then arose followed 
him when he went to South Carolina, so that it became 
necessary on his going to South Carolina to write a letter 
to the Governor of that State, telling him what manner 
of man he was. Yet, through all this, with a magna- 
nimity rarely equalled, he stood in silence, without de- 



416 APPENDIX. 

fending himself, or allowing others to defend him, for he 
was unwilling to offend any one who was wearing a sword 
and striking blows for the Confederacy." 

Mr. Davis then spoke of the straits to which the Con- 
federacy was reduced, and of the danger to which her 
capital was exposed just after the battle of Seven Pines, 
and told how General Lee had conceived and executed 
the desperate plan to turn the flank and rear of the en- 
emy, which, after seven days of bloody battle, was crowned 
with the protection of Richmond, while the enemy was 
driven far from the city. 

The speaker referred also to the circumstances attend- 
ino; General Lee's crossino- the Potomac and the march 
into Pennsylvania. He (Mr. Davis) assumed the re- 
sponsibility for that movement. The enemy had long 
been concentrating his forces, and it was evident that if 
they continued their steady progress, the Confederacy 
would be overwhelmed. Our only hope was to drive him 
to the defence of his own capital, we being enabled in the 
meantime to reinforce our shattered army. How well 
General Lee carried out that dangerous experiment need 
not be told. Richmond was relieved, the Confederacy 
was relieved, and time was obtained, if other things had 
favored, to reinforce the army. 

" But," said Mr. Davis, " I shall not attempt to review 
the military career of our fallen chieftain. Of the man 
how shall I speak? He was my friend, and in that word 
is included all that I could say of any man. His moral 
qualities rose to the height of his genius. Self denying — 
always intent upon the one idea of duty — self-controlled 
to an extent that many thought him cold. His feelings 
were really warm, and his heart melted freely at the sight 
of a wounded soldier, or the story of the sufferings of the 



APPENDIX. 417 

widow and orphan. During the war he was ever con- 
scious of the inequality of the means at his control ; but 
it was never his to complain or to utter a doubt ; it was 
always his to do. When, in the last campaign, he was 
beleaguered at Petersburg, and painfully aware of the 
straits to which we were reduced, he said, ' With my army 
in the mountains of Virginia, I could carry on this war 
for twenty years longer.' His men exhausted, and his 
supplies failing, he was unable to carry out his plans. An 
untoward event caused him to anticipate the movement, 
and the army of Northern Virginia was overwhelmed. 
But in the surrender, he anticipated conditions that have 
not been fulfilled — he expected his army to be respected 
and his paroled soldiers to be allowed the enjoyments of 
life and property. Whether these conditions have been 
fulfilled, let others say. 

"Here he now sleeps in the land he loved so well, and 
that land is not Virginia only, for they do injustice to 
Lee who believe he fought only for Virginia. He w^as 
ready to go anywhere, on any service, for the good of his 
country, and his heart was as broad as the fifteen States 
struggling for the principles that our forefathers fought 
for in the Revolution of 1776. He is sleeping in the same 
soil with the thousands who fought under the same flag, 
but first offered up their lives. Here the living are as- 
sembled to honor his memory, and there the skeleton 
sentinels keep watch over his grave. This citizen, this 
soldier, this great general, this true patriot, left behind 
him the crowning glory of a true Christian. His Chris- 
tianity ennobled him in life, and affords us grounds for 
the belief that he is happy beyond the grave. 

" But, while we mourn the loss of the great and the 
true, drop we also tears of sympathy with her who was 

2B 



418 APPENDIX. 

his help meet — the noble woman who, while her husband 
was in the field leading the army of the Confederacy, 
though an invalid herself, passed her time in knitting 
socks for the marching soldiers. A woman fit to be the 
mother of heroes — and heroes are descended from her. 
Mourning with her, we can only offer the consolation of a 
Christian. Our loss is not his, but he now enjoys the re- 
wards of a life well spent and a never-wavering trust in a 
risen Saviour. This day we unite our words of sorrow 
with those of the good and great throughout Christendom, 
for his fame has gone over the water — his deeds will be 
remembered ; and when the monument we build shall 
have crumbled into dust, his virtues will still live, a high 
model for the imitation of generations yet unborn." 

MEMORIAL RESOLUTIONS. 

Colonel C. S. Venable then presented the following re- 
port of the Committee on Resolutions : 

" Whereas, It is a high and holy duty, as well as a 
noble privilege, to perpetuate the honors of those who 
have displayed eminent virtues and performed great 
achievements, that they may serve as incentives and ex- 
amples to the latest generation of their countrymen, and 
attest the reverential admiration and affectionate regard 
of their compatriots ; and ivhereas, this duty and privilege 
devolves on all who love and admire General Robert E. 
Lee throughout this country and the world, and in an es- 
pecial manner upon those who followed him in the field ; 
or who fought in the same cause, who shared in his glories, 
partook of his trials, and were united with him in the same 
sorrows and adversity ; who were devoted to him in war by 
the baptism of fire and blood, and bound to him in peace 
by the still higher homage due to the rare and grand 



APPENDIX. 419 

exhibition of a character pure and lofty and gentle and 
true, under all changes of fortune, and serene amid the 
greatest disasters ; therefore, be it 

" 1. Resolved, That we favor an association to erect a 
monument at Richmond to the memory of Robert E. Lee, 
as an enduring testimonial of our love and respect and 
devotion to his fame. 

" 2. Resolved, That while donations will be gladly re- 
ceived from all who recognize in the excellencies of Gen- 
eral Lee's character an honor and an encouragement to 
our common humanity, and an abiding hope that coming 
generations may be found to imitate his virtues, it is de- 
sirable that every Confederate soldier and sailor should 
make some contribution, however small, to the proposed 
monument. 

"3. Resolved, That for the purpose of securing the 
efficiency and dispatch in the erection of the monument, 
an executive committee of seventy-five, with a president, 
secretary, treasurer, auditor, &c., be appointed to invite 
and collect subscriptions, to procure designs for said monu- 
ment, to select the best, to provide for the organization of 
central executive committees in other States, which may 
serve as mediums of communication between the executive 
committee of the Association and the local associations of 
these States. 

"4. Resolved, That we respectfully invite the ladies of 
the Hollywood Association to lend us their assistance and 
co-operation in the collection of subscriptions. 

" 5. Resolved, That we cordially approve of the local 
monuments now proposed to be erected by other associa- 
tions at Atlanta, and at Lexington, his last* home, whose 
people were so closely united with him in the last sad 
years of his life. 



420 APPENDIX. 

" 6. Resolved, That while we cordially thank the 
Governor and Legislature of Virginia for the steps they 
have taken to do honor to the memory of General Lee, 
yet in deference to the wishes of his loved and venerated 
widow, with whom we mourn, we will not discuss the 
question of the most fitting resting-place for his ever- 
glorious remains, but will content ourselves with express- 
ing the earnest desire and hope that at some future proper 
time they will be committed to the charge of this Associa- 
tion." 

Generals John S. Preston, John B. Gordon, and Henry 
A.Wise and William Henry Preston, and Colonels Eobert 
E. Withers and Charles jVIarshall, delivered eloquent and 
appropriate speeches, and argued that Richmond is the 
proper place for the final interment of the remains of 
General Lee. 

The Resolutions were adopted, and the meeting ad- 
journed. 

Extracts from the English Press. 
PALL MALL GAZETTE. 

" Even amid the turmoil of the great European struggle, 
the intelligence from America announcing that General 
Robert E. Lee is dead, will be received with deep sorrow 
by many in this country, as well as by his followers and 
fellow-soldiers in America. It is but a few years since 
Robert E. Lee ranked among the great men of the 
present time. He w'as the able soldier of the Southern 
Confederacy, the bulwark of her Northern frontier, the 
obstacle to the advance of the Federal armies, and the 
leader who twice threatened, by the capture of Washing- 
ton, to turn the tide of success, and to accomplish a revo- 
lution which would have changed the destiny of the 



APPENDIX. 421 

United States. Six years passed by and tlicn we heard 
that he was dying at an obscure town in Virginia, where, 
since the collapse of the Confederacy, he had been acting 
as a schoolmaster. When at the head of the last eight 
thousand of his valiant army, the remnants which battle, 
sickness and famine had left him, he delivered up his 
sword to General Grant at Appomattox Court-House, his 
public career ended ; he passed away from men's thoughts ; 
and few in Europe cared to inquire the fate of the General 
whose exploits had aroused the wonder of neutrals and 
belligerents, and whose noble character had excited the 
admiration of even the most bitter of his political ene- 
mies. If, however, success is not always to be accounted 
as the sole foundation for renown. General Lee's life and 
career deserve to be held in reverence by all who admire 
the talents of a General and the noblest qualities of a sol- 
dier. His family were well known in Virginia. De- 
scended from the cavaliers who first colonized that State, 
they had produced more than one man who fought with 
distinction for their country. They were allied by mar- 
riage to Washington, and, previous to the recent war, 
were possessed of much wealth ; General (then Colonel) 
Kobert Lee residing, when not employed with his regi- 
ment, at Arlington Heights, one of the most beautiful 
places in the neighborhood of Washington. When the 
civil war first broke out, he was a colonel in the United 
States Army, had served with distinction in Mexico, and 
was accounted among the best of the American officers. 
To him, as to others, the difficult choice presented itself, 
whether to take the side of his State, which had joined in 
the secession of the South, or to support the central gov- 
ernment. It is said that Lee debated the matter with 
General Scott, then commander-in-chief; that both agreed 
36 



422 APPENDIX. 

that their first duty lay with their State, but that the 
former only put the theory into practice. 

" It was not until the second year of the war that Lee 
came prominently forward, when, at the indecisive battle 
of Fair Oaks, in front of Richmond, General Johnston 
having been ^vounded, he took command of the army; 
and subsequently drove McClellan, with great loss, to the 
banks of the James Eiver. From that time he became 
the recognized leader of the Confederate army of Virginia. 
He repulsed wave after wave of invasion, army after 
array being hurled against him only to be thrown back, 
beaten, and in disorder. The Government at Washington 
were kept in constant alarm by the near vicinity of his 
troops, and witnessed more than once the entry into their 
intrenchments of a defeated and disorganized rabble, 
which a few days previous had left them a confident host. 
Twice he entered the Northern States at the head of a 
successful army, and twice indecisive battles alone pre- 
served from destruction the Federal Government, and 
turned the fortune of the war. He impressed his char- 
acter on those who acted under him. Ambition for him 
had no charms, duty alone was his guide. His simplicity 
of life checked luxury and display among his officers, 
w^hile his disregard of hardships silenced the murmurs of 
his harassed soldiery. By the troops he was loved as a 
father, as well as admired as a general ; and his deeply- 
religious character impressed itself on all who were brought 
in contact with him, and made itself felt through the 
ranks of the Virginian army. It is said that, during four 
years of war, he never slept in a house, but in winter and 
summer shared the hardships of his soldiers. Such was 
the man who, in mature age, at a period of life when few 
generals have acquired renown, fought against over- 



APPENDIX. 423 

whelming odds for the cause which he believed just. He 
saw many of his bravest generals and dearest friends fall 
around him, but, although constantly exposed to fire, 
escaped without a wound. 

"The battles which prolonged and finally decided the 
issue of the contest, are now little more than names. 
Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettys- 
burg, are forgotten in Europe by all excepting those who 
study recent wars as lessons for the future, and would col- 
lect from the deeds of other armies experience which they 
may apply to their own. To them the boldness of Lee's 
tactics at Chancellorsville will ever be a subject of ad- 
miration ; while even those who least sympathize with his 
cause will feel for the General who saw the repulse of 
Longstreet's charge of Gettysburg, and beheld the failure 
of an attempt to convert a defensive war into one of at- 
tack, together with the consequent abandonment of the 
bold stroke which he had hoped would terminate the 
contest. Quietly he rallied the broken troops; taking all 
the blame on himself, he encouraged the officers, dispirited 
by the reverse, and in person formed up the scattered de- 
tachments. Again, when fortune had turned against the 
Confederacy, when overwhelming forces from all sides 
pressed back her defenders, Lee, for a year, held his 
ground with a constantly diminishing army, fighting 
battle after battle in the forests and swamps around 
Richmond. No reverses seemed to dispirit him, no mis- 
fortune appeared to rufile his calm, brave temperament. 
Only at last, when he saw the remnants of his noble army 
about to be ridden down by Sheridan's cavalry, when 
eight thousand men, half starved and broken Avith fatigue, 
were surrounded by the net wliich Grant and Sherman 
had spread around them, did he yield ; his fortitude for 



424 APPENDIX. 

the moment gave way; he took farewell of his soldiers; 
and, giving himself up as a prisoner, retired a ruined man 
into private life, gaining his bread by the hard and un- 
congenial work 01 governing Lexington College. 
' "When political animosity has calmed down, and 
wdien Americans can look back on those years of war 
with feelings unbiassed by party strife, then will General 
Lee's character be appreciated by all his countrymen as 
it now is by a part, and his name will be honored as that 
of one of the noblest soldiers who have ever drawn a 
sword in a cause which they believed just, and at the 
sacrifice of all personal considerations have fought man- 
fully a losing battle." 

LONDON STANDARD. 

" Few are the generals who have earned, since history 
began, a greater military reputation ; still fewer are the 
men of similar eminence, civil or military, whose personal 
qualities would bear comparison with his. The bitterest 
enemies of his country hardly dared to whisper a word 
against the character of her most distinguished General, 
while neutrals regarded him with an admiration for his 
deeds, and respect for his lofty and unselfish nature, which 
almost grew into veneration, and his own countrymen 
learned to look up to him with as much confidence and 
esteem as they ever felt for Washington 

" ISTo one pretending to understand in the least either 
the general principles of military science or the particular 
conditions of the American war, doubts that General Lee 
gave higher proofs of military genius and soldiership than 
any of his opponents. He was outnumbered from first to 
last ; and all his victories were gained against greatly su- 
perior forces, and with troops deficient in every necessary 



APPENDIX. 425 

of war except courage and discipline. Never perhaps 
was so much achieved against odds so terrible 

" Always outnumbered, always opposed to a foe abun- 
dantly supplied with food, transports, ammunition, cloth- 
ing, and all that was wanting to his own men, he was al- 
ways able to make courage and skill supply the deficiency 
of strength and of supplies 

" Truer greatness, a loftier nature, a spirit more unsel- 
fish, a character purer, more chivalrous, the world has 
rarely, if ever, known. Of stainless hue and deep religious 
feeling, yet free from all taint of cant and fanaticism, and 
as dear and congenial to the cavalier Stuart as to the 
puritan Stonewall Jackson ; unambitious, but ready to 
sacrifice all at the call of duty ; devoted to his cause, yet 
never moved by his feelings beyond the line prescribed by 
his judgment; never provoked by just resentment to pun- 
ish wanton cruelty by reprisals which would have given a 
character of needless savagery to the war ; both North 
and South owe a deep debt of gratitude to him, and the 
time will come when both will be equally proud of him. 
And well they may, for his character and his life afford 
a complete answer to the reproaches commonly cast on 
money-grabbing, meclianical America. A country which 
has given birth to men like him and those who followed 
him, may look the chivalry of Europe in the face with- 
out shame, for the father-lands of Sidney and of Bayard 
never produced a nobler soldier, gentleman, and Chris- 
tian than General Robert E. Lee." 

Savannah, Georgia. 

At the meeting held on the 15th of October, it was 
resolved that a eulogy should be pronounced on General 
Lee — the 19th of January, 1871. General A. R. Law- 
ton was appointed to deliver it. 
3€'* 



426 APPENDIX. 

From the published pamphlet, we make the following 
extracts, with which we close this collection. 

EULOGY BY GEN. LAWTON. 

"Nearly seventy-one years ago, in conformity with a 
resolution of the Congress of the United States, and a 
proclamation of the President — on the anniversary, of the 
birthday of Washington — the people of every city, 
town, village, and hamlet, assembled in public meetings 
to testify their grief by suitable eulogies and public 
prayers, and render their heartfelt tribute of affection for 
the memory of the Father of his country. The grief was 
universal, and the testimonials such as could be claimed 
for him, who had given existence to a young Republic, 
of free and happy people. All that was said and done 
on that solemn occasion, was under the sanction and con- 
nected with the organization of a powerful government, 
which he had been chiefly instrumental in creating. The 
great captain and statesman of the generation in which 
he lived, he died a conqueror in the field, and the success- 
ful founder of an empire. 

" To-day, we meet to do homage to the memory of one 
whose great struggles and trials in the field — with all 
his mighty efforts to accomplish what his and our hearts 
most desired — resulted in final disaster, and the surren- 
der of the patriot army which he led — who lived not to 
see any of the direct or material results accomplished to 
which these stupendous struggles were directed. With no 
government to announce his death, and no organization 
to preserve his memory, we are here to-day, my friends, 
summoned only by the spontaneous impulses of our 
hearts, to mourn the loss, and commemorate the virtues 
of Robert E. Lee. The entire people of this Southern 



APPENDIX. 427 

land mourn him with a sorrow all the more touching, for 
the pathos there is in the fallen fortunes of the truly great 
and good, and with a measure of respect, admiration and 
gratitude, such as has never been evoked from any people 
under the sun. At the hour of his death, without power, 
without place, the chieftain of a lost cause, yet was he the 
most illustrious and beloved personage of the age in which 
he lived — upon whom dearest hopes were confidently 
fixed in times of fearful trial and suffering ; and when 
hope was gone, confidence, respect and veneration re- 
mained, intensified and illustrated by the utmost love and 
affection of this entire land. Such is the result of the 
life and death of General Lee ; such is the spectacle pre- 
sented by this assemblage of a sorrowing people ! 

"Why is this so? What were the elements of his 
character, and what the events of his life; what had he 
done and suffered, which made him so truly great and 
good, and caused him to be respected, admired and be- 
loved, beyond all other men of the century in which he 
lived ? To find response to these inquiries, is the perilous 
task which your kindness has assigned me. While w^e 
must look to his own character, his own deeds, and his 
own virtues, for the true causes which combine to produce 
the results we now contemplate, and place him far above 
the necessity of appealing to heraldry or ancestry for his 
title to glory and renown, these influences are not to be 
disregarded ; nor is the power of race to be lightly spoken 
of, even in the formation of such a sublime character 
as his. 

" Descended from an old and prominent family in 
England, one of whom passed over the channel with 
William the Conqueror, and another as first Earl of 
Litchfield, at the head of his company of cavaliers, 



428 APPENDIX. 

accompanied Richard Coeur de Leon, in the third crusade, 
their armor may be seen in its appropriate pLace in the 
Tower of London, and banners surmounted by the family 
arms found in the chapel at Windsor Palace, And from 
the settlement of Virginia to the present day. they have 
filled the highest offices, Colonial, State, and Federal, in 
the cabinet and in the field. But perhaps no one of this 
extraordinary family has given evidence of greater natural 
powers, or greater aptitude for public affairs, military and 
civil, than the immediate ancestor of General Lee, 'Light- 
Horse Harry,' of the Revolution. Accustomed to think 
of him merely as the bold and dashing partisan leader, 
the favorite of Washington, the great support of Greene, 
we too often forget that he was also a consummate orator, 
and endowed with the most exquisite classical taste. His 
letters to his oldest son (by the second marriage) are full 
of the most beautiful classical allusions ; and in one of 
them he discussed, like a master, the sublime doctrine of 
the 'immortality of the soul.' But above all did he incul- 
cate truth and self-commaiid upon his children 

"Lee, a Virginian born and bred, all the traditions and 
glory of his ancestors, all the impulses of his noble heart, 
impelled him to share the fortunes and accept the fate of 
his native Commonwealth. An officer, 't is true, of the 
Federal Government, but lent to that government by the 
State of Virginia ; and only so long as Virginia con- 
sented thereto. He had fought under its flag, and fur- 
nished his shining contribution to that track of glory left 
by the victorious march of its armies. Sad and painful 
indeed was the issue presented, but he did not hesitate a 
moment to tread the path of duty ; and decided at once 
not to remain in a position where he could be called upon 
to raise his hand against his relatives, his children, and 



APPENDIX. 429 

his home, and the grand old Commonwealth, to which his 
allegiance was due. He resigned his commission in the 
United States army (on the 20th of April, 1861,) in a 
letter full of sadness and pathos, and tendered his services 
to his own Virginia. Placed at once in chief command 
of the forces raised by that State, when Virginia became 
one of the ' Confederate States of America,' he was trans- 
ferred, with all these troops, to the armies of the young 
republic. He received the commission of full general in 
the army of the Confederate States ; and the prestige of 
his name, and the opinions already formed of his wonder- 
ful capacity for military command, at once marked him 
for the confidence and the hopes of a gallant and strug- 
gling people. Insensibly to himself he stood up as one 
of those 

" ' Men on whose shoulders at a moment's warning, 
The weight of mightiest interests was flung, 
Who in the conflict cannot shrink, or pause 
Tho' for mere breath, and still must lift their crests 
Knight-like, and 'mid the clang and clash of blows, 
Gigantic hold their fame up with firm hands. 
And a grand issue grandly vindicate.' ...... 

" At Lexington the great Southern leader intrenched 
himself upon the new battle-field of education and intel- 
ligence, and gathered around him the ardent youth of a 
new generation, and the spirits of the illustrious dead, for 
the redemption of his conquered country. Lexington is 
the capital on the column, otherwise incomplete, of a har- 
monious and beautiful patriotism. Thus in the discharge 
of that 'duty,' which he himself has said in a letter to 
his son, ' is the sublimest word in our language,' he con- 
tinued to live until the end of his days. 



430 APPENDIX. 

" But in this quiet and retirement, his great heart was 
oppressed by the condition and the wrongs of his beloved 
South. He had expected from a powerful nation accept- 
ing the surrender of his sword, if not that magnanimity, 
at least that exercise of policy, which the extent of their 
achievements, and the practice of the great nations of the 
earth, would have dictated. He knew that in the jDalmy 
days of Rome no triumphs were decreed for the results 
of civil wars, but every effort used to gain the vanquished 
by benefits conferred, and thus admit them again into the 
great Roman family. And thus had Rome presented the 
imposing spectacle of ' a city which becomes a people, 
and a people which embraces the world.' 

" But neither magnanimity, nor the lessons of history, 
could produce such a result with the government that ac- 
cepted his surrender. 

" History gives us no account of a more unhappy 
people than were ours, after the close of the war. Their 
cause was lost, their liberties gone, the whole surface of 
the country spotted over with the graves of their mar- 
tyred dead; their motives aspersed, their character ma- 
ligned, their families broken up, their homes desolate, 
their churches desecrated, their towns burned and pillaged, 
their fields lying waste, and their children starving; and 
the future so dark and uncertain as to shed no light upon 
the cheerless present. The keenness of the anguish which 
he felt was aggravated and intensified, not only by de- 
monstrations of the ardent love which this people bore 
him, but by that silence which he imposed on himself, for 
example and policy, and which was sometimes mistaken 
for a want of thorough appreciation of the wrongs under 
which we suffered. As he looked with painful anxiety 
to the future, there was a glimmer of hope that material 



APPENDIX. 431 

prosperity might yet return to this stricken land ; that the 
waste places might be again made glad, and a generous 
soil once more reward the labor of the husbandman. His 
imagination might see, for his children if not for himself, 
the valleys of his beloved South once more covered with 
waving corn, and once more the cattle upon a thousand 
hills. And as he thought upon the hecatombs of those 
he loved, who had been sacrificed to constitutional free- 
dom, and the blood of his kinsmen and his friends, yet 
smoking amid the desolations of his home, his bereaved 
friendship was consoled by the faith which points to the 
Eternal Morning — and the voice of the Redeemer of 
mankind, which says, *Thy brother is not dead, but 
sleepeth,' taught him to look for reunion in the hopes of 
immortality. But his suffering patriot heart could find 
only despair in the lessons of history. Freedom once 
abused by a people, dies and has no resurrection. A fare- 
well once taken is too often sad and final, and we are left 
to abide our doom in stolid resignation. Such was the 
picture presented to his mind by the condition of the great 
American Republic ; and the bitterness was only increased 
by the fact that the mass of those who controlled her 
destiny were blind to her real condition. 

*' ' To mute and to material things, 
New life revolving summer brings, 
The genial call dead Nature hears. 
And in her glory reappears ; 
But, oh ! my country's wintry state, 
What second spring shall renovate ? ' 

"The cold steel had entered his heart, and pierced it to 
the core. Grandly he struggled, but gradual^y he sunk, 
under the weight of suffering, mental and physical. A 
disease contracted as far back as the campaign of 1864, 



432 APPENDIX. . 

was slowly but surely undermining a constitution well- 
nigh as remarkable as his mental and moral endowments. 
Possessed of extraordinary manly beauty, both of face 
and form, he had a strength of body, and a capacity for 
action, for endurance of hunger, fatigue, and exposure, 
which has rarely ever been equalled. He struggled to 
the last, and never succumbed to disease, until actually 
stricken down in the very discharge of a specific duty. . . . 
" The first sensation produced by the news of General 
Lee's death can never be forgotten,but may not be described. 
Confined to no sect, or class, or latitude, the news flashed 
across the Atlantic, and claimed the most marked atten- 
tion, even amid the clash of arms on. that side of the 
ocean. And the unmistakable estimation in which his 
exalted character was held by all true men. North and 
South, exhibited to us the first ray of hope that a return- 
ing sense of justice was at hand. So intense was the 
feeling, and so decided the demonstrations, that even they 
who would not join in the outburst of sorrow were con- 
tent to remain silent. Never before did the quaint but 
pointed language of Jeremy Taylor, uttered more than 
two hundred years ago, more fitly apply to the life and 
death of any man : ' He lived as we should all live, and 
died as I fain would die. Such was his death, that he 
did not die too soon. And his life was so useful and so 
excellent that he could not have lived too long. Death 
consecrates and makes sacred that person whose excellency 
was such, that they who are not displeased at the death 
cannot dispraise the life ; but they that mourn sadly can 
never commend suflBciently.' " 

Finis. 



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